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<title>Why Do Men Watch Porn? A Feminist and Queer Analysis</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/why-do-men-watch-porn-a-feminist-and-queer-analysis/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Yanis Iqbal]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:09:53 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Biology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sex/Sexuality]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Amia Srinivisan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Angelita Biscotti]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Gary Wilson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[mimesis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Paul Verhaege]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Periyar]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[phallic jouissance]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[post-patriarchal future]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[post-pornographic]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[situational fuckability]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161622</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The dominant neuroscientific discourse on male porn addiction is underpinned by a moral pedagogy that tacitly assumes a normative sexual baseline: that the brain’s reward circuits, genitalia, and arousal systems were designed by evolution for heterosexual intercourse aimed at reproduction, and that any deviation (such as pornography consumption) constitutes a pathological distortion of this natural […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/why-do-men-watch-porn-a-feminist-and-queer-analysis/">Why Do Men Watch Porn? A Feminist and Queer Analysis</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[The dominant neuroscientific discourse on male porn addiction is underpinned by a <a href="https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/why-does-internet-porn-exist-and-why-is-it-so-addictive.355433/">moral pedagogy</a> that tacitly <a href="https://rewardfoundation.org/health/a-supernormal-stimulus/">assumes</a> a normative sexual baseline: that the brain’s reward circuits, genitalia, and arousal systems were designed by evolution for heterosexual intercourse aimed at reproduction, and that any deviation (such as pornography consumption) constitutes a pathological distortion of this natural purpose. This framing casts porn as a supernormal stimulus that hijacks a reward system supposedly fine-tuned for reproductive sex, generating addiction by overwhelming circuits evolved to motivate biologically adaptive sexual behavior.
It is true that heterosexuality, in its basic reproductive form, emerged as a likely consequence of evolutionary pressures. The division of reproductive labor between gamete types (sperm and egg) gave rise to morphologies and behaviors that facilitated mating between these differentiated forms. From this, what we call heterosexual mating arose as a functional adaptation: it was a way to ensure the union of gametes and thus the continuation of the species. In other words, heterosexuality, as a reproductive pattern, was favored because it enabled successful gene transmission.
However, to say that heterosexuality evolved in this way is not to say that it was the goal or intended end of evolution. Evolution does not work like a designer or engineer crafting an organism toward an optimal plan. Instead, it works through incremental tinkering, drift, and adaptation to local conditions. As a result, the material systems that emerged are flexible, overlapping, and “messy” in their functional range. The genitalia, hormonal flows, and neural circuits that happened to support gamete union are not rigidly bound to that purpose. They constitute a biological infrastructure that is general enough to support multiple possible forms of stimulation, pleasure, connection, and arousal.
Thus, the biological infrastructure of sex functions as a pure potentiality. Once these systems came into being, they are capable of being actualized in countless ways that go beyond the reproductive logic that initially selected for them. The penis and clitoris, for example, are richly innervated and capable of producing pleasure through a wide variety of forms of contact, not just penetrative heterosexual intercourse. Sexual arousal can be activated by objects, situations, and fantasies that have no direct link to reproduction. The hormonal and neural architecture that evolution sculpted to favor reproductive encounters also became the substrate for non-reproductive sexualities, aesthetic pleasures, fetishistic investments, and symbolic desires.
This is because evolution supplies no telos or final cause to these capacities. It simply generates traits and systems that are good enough to persist; what happens beyond that – how these capacities are organized, invested, and mobilized – depends on contingent historical, cultural, and personal factors. Thus, while heterosexual mating was a crucial actualization in evolutionary history, it represents just one path carved from the open field of material potential supplied by sexuation.
The neuroscientific moral discourse on porn addiction erases the structure of material potentiality by treating heterosexual reproductive sex as the telos of sexual desire and reward circuitry. It constructs a normative baseline where sexual arousal is assumed to be naturally directed at certain stimuli (typically those associated with real-life partners and reproductive acts) and treats any divergence as pathological. Porn, on this view, becomes dangerous because it supposedly short-circuits the evolved function of the reward system, flooding it with artificial signals that displace “natural” sexual motivations.
<a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003219613-8/boys-brains-porn-lucas-gottz%C3%A9n">Consider</a> the American writer and anti-pornography campaigner Gary Wilson. He insists at the outset that he is not advocating a moral panic or defining what is “natural” in human sexuality. Yet, his narrative continually constructs certain sexual preferences as troubling, pathological, or signs of moral and masculine failure. The invocation of brain plasticity becomes a means of describing morphed or shifting sexual preferences as evidence of neural corruption: porn-induced rewiring that supposedly pushes young men toward “unnerving” or “disturbing” desires, be it transgender porn, fetishistic imagery, or homosexual scenarios. Thus, under the banner of evolutionary science and neurobiology, what is really advanced is a pedagogy of anxiety about non-normative sexualities and the loss of gendered control.
Wilson’s framework relies heavily on evolutionary psychology to ground its claims: men, he argues, are biologically wired by ancient reproductive imperatives to seek variety and novelty in sexual partners, driven by dopamine to “serve their genes.” Women, by contrast, are presumed to seek stability and a singular mate. This deterministic view sets up a rigid sexual economy, where any deviation from the naturalized script of male heterosexual conquest and female monogamy signals dysfunction. Pornography, in this story, becomes dangerous not merely because it rewires neural circuits (a feature of all learning and experience), but because it reveals or generates desires that fall outside the sanctioned evolutionary norm. The “morphed” sexual preferences Wilson laments (whether attraction to transgender people, fascination with fetishes, or even ambiguous arousal at scenes involving other men) are portrayed as threats to the integrity of heterosexual masculinity and its neurobiological foundation. Porn, in this sense, is seen as a corrupting force that undermines the natural teleology of male sexuality.
What neuroscientific moral pedagogies mistake for pathology is, in fact, a manifestation of the same potentiality that makes human sexuality irreducibly multiple. Pornography does not hijack a pure, reproductive instinct; it activates the same plastic infrastructure that could be actualized in countless other ways. The moralized language of “hijacking” or “rewiring” conceals the fact that there was no original wire, no singular, correct path for desire to travel. There is only the historically contingent organization of material capacities that evolution left radically underdetermined.
If there is no originary, natural baseline whose sanctity is violated by porn, how can we pass a normative judgement upon its effects? The answer lies in what exactly porn does to the pure potentiality of our sexual infrastructures. Amia Srinivisan’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Sex">critique</a> of porn foregrounds the constrictive impact it has upon our “sexual imagination”. As she writes, “porn does not inform, or persuade, or debate. Porn trains.” It “etches deep grooves in the psyche,” producing repetitive associations between sexual arousal and specific, often hierarchically gendered, visual stimuli.
Filmed pornography, for Srinivasan, is particularly potent because of its medium. Drawing on the unique affective force of the moving image, she observes that it “harnesses the power of the most ideologically potent entertainment apparatus of all: the moving picture.” Unlike books or still images, which require some imaginative elaboration from the viewer, the pornographic film “needs nothing from us – no input, no elaboration.” This passivity is crucial to her argument. The viewer is not a co-creator of erotic meaning but a consumer of already-structured sexual imagery. She remarks, “in front of the porn film, the imagination halts and gives way, overtaken by its simulacrum of reality.” The implication is that so long as desire is funneled through the screen’s logic, it remains trapped in mimesis, endlessly recycling pre-inscribed forms.
When the sexual imagination becomes a “mimesis-machine,” it just passively receives the images of total satisfaction transmitted by pornography. The logic of this sexual desire can be explicated through Lacanian psychoanalysis. In this theoretical framework, the act of sex is seen as inextricably bound to the logic of the partial object (partner’s voice, gaze, or a particular body part) that functions as the cause of desire. Far from being a means of attaining full satisfaction or union with the Other, sex, in its ordinary or phallic form, is structured around the failure to achieve such wholeness. The partial object becomes the focal point of erotic investment, the fragment through which the subject seeks access to enjoyment. In sexual relations governed by phallic jouissance, the partner is effectively reduced to this fragmentary element, to what triggers and sustains desire rather than to the Other in their irreducible subjectivity. The enjoyment extracted from the partner is therefore not directed toward the otherness of the person, but toward the narcissistically fantasized object, which both promises and withholds satisfaction. This structure ensures that the act of sex, when confined to phallic jouissance, is marked by a fundamental disappointment: the Other is always missed, and the satisfaction derived is always incomplete.
The partial object plays a structural role in sustaining this economy of desire within the sexual act. Because desire takes shape through language, and language always involves a gap between the words we use and what we actually mean or want, there’s an unavoidable mismatch between what we say we’re after and what actually satisfies us. The way we express our desire never lines up perfectly with what would truly fulfill it, so we’re left chasing something that always slips just out of reach. This structural gap means that no act of sex, no matter how intense, can fully coincide with the satisfaction it promises. The subject may pursue the Other through the partial object, but the Other remains beyond reach, barred by the same structure that generates desire in the first place. Phallic jouissance thus remains tied to the failure inherent in the sexual relation, a failure that is not contingent but constitutive. In the sexual act, the subject encounters not the fullness of the Other, but the echo of its own lack, mirrored in the elusive partial object that it seeks to enjoy.
Angelita Biscotti’s <a href="https://www.liminalmag.com/liminal-review-of-books/situational-fuckability">reflections</a> on situational fuckability offer a more concrete lens through which to revisit the aforementioned Lacanian concepts. Biscotti identifies fuckability not as a stable, intrinsic attribute lodged in a person’s body, but as something animated by context, by shifting arrangements of power, attention, and fantasy. The bartenders are not hot in themselves; they are hot because of the scene: the exchange of drinks, the calibrated attention, the tacit promise of withholding or giving. Here, fuckability is circumstantial, contingent on a network of glances, gestures, and roles, much like Lacan’s description of phallic jouissance, where the Other is approached through partial objects, fragments that spark and sustain desire but ultimately fail to deliver fullness. The barroom encounter, charged by the bartender’s capacity to supply or deny, mirrors the structure of phallic jouissance: it feeds on distance, on the gap between want and fulfillment, and on the partial, fleeting satisfaction that always leaves a remainder.
This phallic jouissance is the organizing template not only of porn but also of patriarchal behavior. Whenever a man engages in creepy actions – voyeurism, groping, harassment etc. – he turns female body parts into consumable objects that promise total satisfaction. However, because language shapes desire through a built-in gap between what is said or imagined and what is truly fulfilling, these sought-after body parts (the breast, the ass, the thigh etc.) inevitably disappoint. They never match the vivid, idealized image the man carried in his mind. The structure of language ensures that the promise of full satisfaction tied to these parts can never be kept. This is why phallic jouissance, while driving endless consumption and pursuit, is always haunted by dissatisfaction: the real never lives up to what the fantasy led him to expect, and so the cycle of seeking, consuming, and failing continues without end.
Biscotti’s account gestures toward the terrain of another mode of enjoyment that exceeds this circuit of lack and consumption. She moves beyond the transactional erotics of circumstantial hotness to describe moments of tenderness, quiet observation, and shared vulnerability: a man carrying a child down subway stairs, the weight of a spoon offered by someone who cooks well, the resonance of a musical scale, a finger trailing down an arm. These moments do not depend on the logic of the partial object or the failure of signification. They evoke a different register of arousal and pleasure, one that is not premised on the pursuit of a missing part, nor on the phallic economy of having or not having. This is the domain Lacan associates with the Other jouissance: a mode of experience that cannot be fully articulated or seized in language, that ex-sists rather than exists, and that emerges in the folds of the everyday, where meaning gives way to presence, rhythm, and sensation.
Biscotti’s reflections on the tenderness of the quotidian, the quiet charge of small gestures, and the arousals discovered only after their arrival capture this Other jouissance’s ineffable quality. It is not the conquest of the beloved as object, nor the consummation that dissolves distance, but a kind of being-with that suspends the need for conquest altogether. A being-with that doesn’t chase after an impossible goal of total satisfaction but enjoys the very process of interacting creatively with the other. It is important to note that this alternative sexual enjoyment does not and cannot abolish the logic of the partial object. In the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Love-in-a-Time-of-Loneliness/Verhaeghe/p/book/9781855756984?srsltid=AfmBOoq-JlLalP2KD2Wyr8h7uSXuuYgoi9QxsIPZWyLLtHr82HxSQLsH">words</a> of Paul Verhaege:
<blockquote>
[T]he drive never works on the whole body but is always focused on fragments or on individual activities. The drive does not need a whole body; it is always one particular part of the body that is involved, together with an activity related to this, which can be either active or passive. These parts of the body are always the points of interaction with the outside world: the genitalia, anus, mouth, eye, ear and nose, together with the related activities of smelling, listening, looking, sucking, penetrating.
</blockquote>
Yet, through the sacrifice of phallic jouissance and the shift toward a mode of love that no longer aims at the mastery of the partial object, the sexual act may be reoriented. Such a reorientation does not culminate in a harmony between self and Other, but in a different mode of relation, one that acknowledges the Other as divided, as lacking, as subject, rather than as a collection of fragments for immediate, satisfying consumption. In this way, love does not remove the partial object from the scene of sex, but it does mark a break with the endless circuit of desire organized around it, opening the possibility of a different kind of encounter with the Other.
In this sense, the act of sex, when approached through the lens of the Other jouissance, ceases to be the culmination of desire aimed at an object and becomes instead a space where speech, touch, and shared time generate a satisfaction not governed by the failure of signifiers. The circumstantial fuckability that Biscotti names reminds us of desire’s fickleness and the inevitability of frustration in phallic jouissance. But her evocation of moments that slip past language and entitlement, that bloom unexpectedly and cannot be reproduced on demand, point toward the possibility of sex as a poetic, open encounter, where the Other is not reduced to a fragment, but encountered in their opacity and their unknowable presence. The crux of this new jouissance is beautifully expressed by Srinivasan’s question: “Is anyone innately attracted to penises or vaginas? Or are we first attracted to ways of being in the world, including bodily ways, which we later learn to associate with certain specific parts of the body?”
Having explored this alternative mode of enjoyment, we can now return to the neuroscientific moral pedagogies with which the article began. Insofar as there is no natural normality that is waiting to be freed from the shackles of pornography, the only way to counter the restrictive effects of porn and associated patriarchal behavior is to institute new ways of being-in-the-world. If pornography addiction and the associated objectification of women are produced and reinforced through the plastic reorganization of neural circuits (circuits that come to privilege certain patterns of attention, reward, and arousal) then overcoming these patterns requires transforming the neural architecture itself. Put differently, it is not enough to exhort individuals to be “aware” of a supposedly natural baseline. Instead, interventions must work at the level of neural reconditioning: establishing new patterns of attention, pleasure, and engagement that rewire the circuits which have been shaped by repetitive exposure to objectifying stimuli. This neural re-wiring has to establish an open-ended sexual sociality in which consumption of objects is replaced by an inconclusive, creative fascination with the Other (which, as have seen, preserves the sexual presence of partial objects).
How does this neural re-wiring occur? In my opinion, Indian social activist Periyar <a href="https://countercurrents.org/2023/08/deconstructive-praxis-and-the-politics-of-independence/">provides</a> the most succinct formulation: “If a man has the right to kill women, a woman should also have the right to kill men. If there is a compulsion that women should fall at men’s feet, then men should also fall at women’s feet. This is equal rights for men and women.” Periyar asserts that the very structure of patriarchal desire, particularly as shaped and reinforced by pornographic culture, depends on the smooth availability of the female body as an object to be seen, touched, possessed, and disposed of at will. Periyar’s radical reversal forces this structure into view by imagining the unthinkable for patriarchy: the female body as a site of sovereign agency, capable of turning the circuits of domination back upon their source.
In other words, feminist activism is not simply a demand for rights or equality in the abstract; it is a material intervention that disrupts the neural architecture of patriarchal-pornographic masculinity. When women act to make their bodies non-consumable, when they resist, refuse, speak back, organize, or even simply assert opacity, they interrupt the smooth pathways of objectification that have been etched into the masculine psyche through repeated exposure to the consumable female form. The female body ceases to function as a seamless object of use; it becomes, instead, what Lacan might call a Thing, an opaque presence that cannot be fully grasped, consumed, or mastered. This resistance forces a recalibration of the circuits of attention, desire, and arousal that have been habituated to expect submission and availability.
Neural re-wiring, in this reading, is not an internal, voluntary act on the part of men, nor can it be achieved by moral exhortation alone. It is catalyzed by the political and social actions of women that block, frustrate, and derail the circuits of patriarchal desire. The non-smooth female body, the body that no longer fits within the slots carved out by pornography or patriarchal fantasy, acts as the necessary shock to a neural system that has grown lazy on the repetition of consumption. In encountering resistance, the neural architecture that expects ease and compliance must reconfigure itself or confront its own impotence. Periyar’s radical symmetry dramatizes this: the point is not that men should fall at women’s feet or be subject to women’s violence, but that only through such a reversal does the masculine neural economy confront the contingency of its imagined supremacy.
Thus, feminist activism reshapes the conditions of perceptual and libidinal possibility. By making the female body non-consumable, it opens space for new circuits of attention, engagement, and pleasure that are no longer tied to domination. Neural re-wiring is hence inseparable from collective struggle: it is triggered and sustained by women’s refusal to be what patriarchy has trained men to expect them to be. It is in these feminist structural shocks to manhood that we should be searching for a post-pornographic, post-patriarchal future.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/why-do-men-watch-porn-a-feminist-and-queer-analysis/">Why Do Men Watch Porn? A Feminist and Queer Analysis</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
</item>
<item>
<title>Biological Devil-ution Rather than Religious Deities Fighting over the Heavens</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/biological-devil-ution-rather-than-religious-deities-fighting-over-the-heavens/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bo Filter]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Biology]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Corporate Globalization]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Corporations]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Evolution]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Psychology/Psychiatry]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Psychopathy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[World Economic Forum (WEF)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Bilderberg]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[brain]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Davos]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[devolution]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sauropsids]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Synapsids]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161582</guid>
<description><![CDATA[“Devil-ution,” a function of evolutionary biology explains human unrest much better than notions of deities fighting over the heavens. Religious wars have never relented. Self-anointed demigods have plagued human history, pretending that faith-based blood lines constitute science. However, modern science takes a different tact. Today, psychologists and psychiatrists bemoan the fact that psychopathic megalomaniacs are […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/biological-devil-ution-rather-than-religious-deities-fighting-over-the-heavens/">Biological Devil-ution Rather than Religious Deities Fighting over the Heavens</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/b-thumbnail_ScienceDirect.com_-e1757995072921.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-161583" src="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/b-thumbnail_ScienceDirect.com_-e1757995072921.jpg" alt="" width="505" height="400" /></a> 
“Devil-ution,” a function of evolutionary biology explains human unrest much better than notions of deities fighting over the heavens. Religious wars have never relented. Self-anointed demigods have plagued human history, pretending that faith-based blood lines constitute science. However, modern science takes a different tact.
Today, psychologists and psychiatrists bemoan the fact that psychopathic megalomaniacs are destroying civilization and the ecosystems that keep planet earth alive. By definition, psychopaths lack self- control. They make up a large portion of what we call the criminally insane. Psychopaths belong in mental institutions. Instead they are allowed to run wild on the planet in apex positions of power. Medical systems globally have failed to incarcerate them. National and international laws have failed to stop them.
In short, we, the citizens of the world are back to square one. We have to create an element of power sufficient to stop them. So, how are we going to do that? A framework of understanding devolution is a good place to start. Focusing on certain roots of human evolution are key to creating a needed new perspective.
Let’s start with a basic understanding of brain evolution. The human brain is divided into three major parts: the lower brain, the mid brain, and the upper brain, also known respectively as the Hindbrain, the Midbrain, and the Forebrain.
The Hindbrain is of particular interest to our attention. The Hindbrain is also known as the brain stem, the oldest brain, the primitive brain, also called the reptilian brain. Well, what just exactly does the reptilian brain refer to?
According to our modern knowledge of evolution, some 300 million years ago, the amniote lineage of our ancestors split in two: one lineage evolved into Sauropsids, which led to birds and reptiles; while the other branch called Synapsids evolved into mammals and humans. This means that biological elements before 300 million years ago continued into the mammalian and human lineage, elements common to reptiles and humans. To be clear, aspects of today’s human reptilian brain, the brain stem, are over 300 million years old.
Jumping 300 million years forward to today, we can see aspects of reptilian behaviour, uncivilized behaviour, emanating from our oldest brain, what lends itself descriptively to psychopathic megalomania. When we observe lizard behaviour in the wild, we do not witness the features of the human forebrain, where the interaction of complex social emotions can lead to civilization.
Giving credit to critics who are still waiting for “civilization,” to arise, I will nonetheless ask: are there human beings who are incapable of empathy and compassion, incapable of caring for other human beings? Studies show clearly that the answer is yes. Genuine sympathy, compassion and empathy exist largely out of the psychological world of psychopaths.
A second question we must pose: are today’s power hungry megalomaniacs making decisions prompted by the brain stem, from the reptilian brain, unable of reaching the higher centres of the brain where civilization can form? The answer lies in their behaviour. Let’s compare.
Most people have seen at one time or another how lizards eat and smash all the eggs in a nest they’ve discovered, caring nothing for the mother of the eggs. Can we not compare the human behaviour of maiming, starving, murdering people, mass murder, war, genocide, ecosystem destruction to smashing all the eggs? Like smashed eggs, there is no care for the mothers whose children have died.
By adding elements of evolution to the devilish behaviours just listed, “devil-ution” becomes an added perspective to our overall understanding of global unrest. The historical interplay of psychopathology and religion starts to come into view. Historically, both religious demi-gods and psychopaths have fought over the reins of power. Astute historians observe how they join forces, as birds of a feather flock together.
Duped disciples flock to churches and synagogues to pursue Amalek and Armageddon, while psychopaths gravitate to international centres of power, in the form of central banking and secret societies, like Bilderberg. A few remain public to showcase their megalomania and demonstrate to the world how they have enslaved the masses in poverty.
One of the visible groups meets regularly in Davos, pondering over what to do with “the useless eaters.” That’s us, you and me, the world’s masses, who they have slated to become jobless, homeless, and unfit to live on their planned trans-human dystopian planet Earth. Advanced readers know of such machinations at the World Economic Forum, where their 200 year-old eugenics program is swinging into full gear. Eight plus billion people are about to die if these reptilian-bound thinkers get their way.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/biological-devil-ution-rather-than-religious-deities-fighting-over-the-heavens/">Biological Devil-ution Rather than Religious Deities Fighting over the Heavens</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Describing Humanity</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/describing-humanity/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Allen Forrest]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:56:49 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Cartoon]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161589</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Was Louis-Ferdinand Céline a pessimist or a realist on the human condition?
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/describing-humanity/">Describing Humanity</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_39_12x9_ink_on_paper_w.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-161590" src="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_39_12x9_ink_on_paper_w-768x1024.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="667" srcset="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_39_12x9_ink_on_paper_w-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_39_12x9_ink_on_paper_w-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_39_12x9_ink_on_paper_w.jpg 900w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></a>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/describing-humanity/">Describing Humanity</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Great Moments in the History of Chrystia Freeland’s Failure to Have Achieved More for Ukrainian Fascism (2013-2025) than Her Grandfather Achieved as Hitler’s Propagandist and Spy (1939)</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/great-moments-in-the-history-of-chrystia-freelands-failure-to-have-achieved-more-for-ukrainian-fascism-2013-2025-than-her-grandfather-achieved-as-hitlers-propagandist-and-spy-1939/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Helmer]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:55:05 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mark Carney]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ukraine]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161617</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Chrystia Freeland’s final leap at political power in her 12-year attempt to rule Canada ended yesterday when she fell flat on her face. Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose push has proved more kinetic than Freeland’s jump, allowed this to be understood when he offered Freeland the less than face-saving post of reconstructing the Ukraine which […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/great-moments-in-the-history-of-chrystia-freelands-failure-to-have-achieved-more-for-ukrainian-fascism-2013-2025-than-her-grandfather-achieved-as-hitlers-propagandist-and-spy-1939/">Great Moments in the History of Chrystia Freeland’s Failure to Have Achieved More for Ukrainian Fascism (2013-2025) than Her Grandfather Achieved as Hitler’s Propagandist and Spy (1939)</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/3272.jpg&nocache=1"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-92357" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/3272.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="(max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/3272.jpg&nocache=1 502w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/3272-300x223.jpg&nocache=1 300w" alt="" width="505" height="374" /></a>
Chrystia Freeland’s final leap at political power in her 12-year attempt to rule Canada ended yesterday when she fell flat on her face.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose push has proved more kinetic than Freeland’s jump, allowed this to be understood when he offered Freeland the less than face-saving post of reconstructing the Ukraine which her warfighting campaign against Russia has all but destroyed. The cost to Canada of this destruction since the Special Military Operation began in February 2022 has been <a href="https://johnhelmer.net/great-moments-in-the-history-of-chrystia-freelands-failure-to-have-achieved-more-for-ukrainian-fascism-2013-2025-than-her-grandfather-achieved-as-hitlers-propagandist-and-spy-1939/#:~:text=Since%20the%20start%20of%20Russia%27s,financial%20contribution%20among%20G7%20countries">C$22 billion</a>, including about C$13 billion in loans which the Kiev regime cannot repay but which are being serviced from the interest earned on Russian assets seized by the NATO allies.
Freeland’s ouster was so rushed, there was no time for her to explain what the hurry was in her departure, nor for Carney to prepare what Freeland would be doing as his special envoy to the Ukraine without any staff or diplomatic <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/freeland-resigns-cabinet-she-takes-193142688.html">rank</a>.
In his official release, Carney appeared not to know that Freeland is resigning her parliamentary seat.
According to Carney’s <a href="https://x.com/MarkJCarney/status/1967997560020406441?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">announcement</a>, Freeland had “helped to secure historic trade negotiations, guide the response to a global pandemic, complete early learning and child care agreements across Canada, and… remove all federal barriers to internal trade.” Not a word about the priorities of Freeland’s career, war against Russia and war against China. “I have asked Chrystia to serve as Canada’s new Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Carney said, “in addition to her responsibilities as a Member of Parliament.”
Carney is believed to have authorized press leaks ahead of his cabinet meeting on Tuesday to reveal Freeland was resigning her combined portfolio of internal trade and transport. In the rush, Carney took several hours before deciding to split the portfolios and assign them to different <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/freeland-resigns-cabinet-she-takes-193142688.html">individuals</a>.
After the cabinet meeting Freeland avoided the press. Returning to her office, she drafted the social media <a href="https://x.com/cafreeland/status/1967994021227401685/photo/2">post</a> of a letter which she addressed, not to the prime minister, but to “dear neighbours, dear Canadians.” She then announced: “I do not intend to run in the next federal election.” As her reason for the exit, Freeland claimed she “is not leaving to spend more time with my family or because the burden of elected office is too heavy to bear.” Instead, “after twelve fulfilling years in public life, I know that now is the right time for me to make way for others and to seek fresh changes for myself.”
Freeland had her 57th birthday last month.
A Canadian source in a position to know commented that there have been growing policy differences between Carney and Freeland. “Carney has signaled his willingness to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports in order to secure Chinese cooperation on their tariffs on Canadian canola. Freeland is recognized in Beijing as a China-hater who, as we know, made sabotaging Canada’s relationship with Beijing a top priority.”
Canola is Canada’s most valuable field crop and farm export, with farm cash receipts of C$12.9 billion in 2024. China had been importing about two-thirds of the Canadian canola crop until Beijing imposed a 100% tariff on canola oil and canola meal in March, and then a 76% tariff on canola seed in <a href="https://johnhelmer.net/great-moments-in-the-history-of-chrystia-freelands-failure-to-have-achieved-more-for-ukrainian-fascism-2013-2025-than-her-grandfather-achieved-as-hitlers-propagandist-and-spy-1939/#:~:text=In%202024%2C%20China%20purchased%205.9,C$12.9%20billion%20in%202024">August</a>. This was retaliation against a series of hostile Canadian political and trade attacks on China, culminating in August 2024 in a 100% tariff on EV imports and a 25% tariff on imported Chinese steel and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trudeau-says-canada-impose-100-tariff-chinese-evs-2024-08-26/">aluminium</a>.
Freeland’s “past behaviour,” said the source, “displays that she’s not at all trustworthy, let alone capable of putting the government’s goals in front of her own ambitions. Other members of cabinet didn’t hide their dislike of her from Carney. She has the reputation of blowing up cabinet meetings with clumsy, hysterical attempts to run everyone else’s business. That has threatened Carney. Freeland then underestimated his ruthlessness in getting rid of her.”
Beginning with the first reports in 2017 of Freeland’s grandfather’s career as a German military collaborator in World War II — spy, propagandist and genocide profiteer — to Freeland’s plotting with Biden Administration officials to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister, the archive of DwB stories on <a href="https://johnhelmer.net/?s=freeland">Freeland</a> has reached 82. An album of the Freeland cartoons has been published in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FS9NB7H/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=helmer%2C+the+complete+dances+with+bears+comic+book&qid=1631509153&s=books&sr=1-1">The Complete Dances with Bears Comic Book</a>, Chapter 5.
Here’s a selection at their original links for a keepsake of Freeland’s passing, and for the one thing she has been incapable of since she first arrived in Moscow as a journalist thirty years ago – laughter.
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/victim-or-aggressor-chrystia-freelands-family-record-for-nazi-war-profiteering-and-murder-of-the-cracow-jews/">January 19, 2017</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/victimor.jpg&nocache=1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-92358" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/victimor.jpg&nocache=1" alt="" width="505" height="618" /></a> 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/the-canadian-establishment-and-prime-minister-trudeau-aim-at-ousting-foreign-minister-chrystia-freeland/">March 16, 2017</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/canadianestabl.jpg&nocache=1"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-92359" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/canadianestabl.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="(max-width: 516px) 100vw, 516px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/canadianestabl.jpg&nocache=1 516w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/canadianestabl-300x192.jpg&nocache=1 300w" alt="" width="505" /></a>
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/chrystia-freeland-exposed-by-sergei-lavrov-at-arctic-council/">May 14, 2017</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/exposedbylavrov.jpg&nocache=1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-92360" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/exposedbylavrov.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="auto, (max-width: 519px) 100vw, 519px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/exposedbylavrov.jpg&nocache=1 525w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/exposedbylavrov-300x192.jpg&nocache=1 300w" alt="" width="505" height="320" /></a>
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/michael-chomiak-volunteered-for-hitler-before-ukraine-was-invaded-and-was-hunted-by-the-polish-police-until-the-1980s-chrystia-freelands-family-lie-grows-bigger-and-blacker/">June 18, 2017</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/michaelchomiak.jpg&nocache=1"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-92361" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/michaelchomiak.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="(max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/michaelchomiak.jpg&nocache=1 520w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/michaelchomiak-295x300.jpg&nocache=1 295w" alt="" width="505" /></a>
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/defecation-in-public-was-it-soft-or-hard-when-white-house-officials-did-it-on-the-canadian-prime-minister-is-chrystia-freeland-also-aiming-at-justin-trudeau/">June 11, 2018</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/defecinpublic.jpg&nocache=1"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-92362" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/defecinpublic.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/defecinpublic.jpg&nocache=1 518w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/defecinpublic-300x283.jpg&nocache=1 300w" alt="" width="505" /></a>
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/canadians-lose-ukraine-election-chrystia-freeland-for-president-of-galicia/">April 22, 2019</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/canadloseukr.jpg&nocache=1"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-92363" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/canadloseukr.jpg&nocache=1" alt="" width="505" height="435" /></a> 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/the-truth-the-irony-consortium-news-and-the-continuing-tale-of-chrystia-freelands-grandfather-and-his-and-her-nazi-scheme-for-ukraine-today/">January 26, 2020</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/thetruththeirony.jpg&nocache=1"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-92364" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/thetruththeirony.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/thetruththeirony.jpg&nocache=1 518w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/thetruththeirony-300x167.jpg&nocache=1 300w" alt="" width="505" /></a>
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/canadas-deputy-prime-minister-chrystia-freeland-diagnosed-with-progressive-hpd-incurable-unless-she-takes-the-prime-ministry-from-justin-trudeau/">April 3, 2024</a>: 
<a href="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/freelanddiagnosed.jpg&nocache=1"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-92365" src="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/freelanddiagnosed.jpg&nocache=1" sizes="(max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px" srcset="https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/freelanddiagnosed.jpg&nocache=1 515w, https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/webpc-passthru.php?src=https://johnhelmer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/freelanddiagnosed-300x139.jpg&nocache=1 300w" alt="" width="505" /></a>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/great-moments-in-the-history-of-chrystia-freelands-failure-to-have-achieved-more-for-ukrainian-fascism-2013-2025-than-her-grandfather-achieved-as-hitlers-propagandist-and-spy-1939/">Great Moments in the History of Chrystia Freeland’s Failure to Have Achieved More for Ukrainian Fascism (2013-2025) than Her Grandfather Achieved as Hitler’s Propagandist and Spy (1939)</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Why the SanctionsKill Campaign Supports BDS</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/why-the-sanctionskill-campaign-supports-bds/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[The SanctionsKill Campaign]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:40:45 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Genocide]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[International Court of Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sanctions]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[UN General Assembly]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[UN Security Council]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[United Nations]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Doa Ali]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[global mortality from armed conflict]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[How to Kill an Entire Country]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[sanctions kill]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161633</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The SanctionsKill campaign was formed in 2019 to raise awareness of the human cost of the “sanctions”—actually economic coercive measures—imposed by the United States and its allies on over 40 countries, in which one-third of humanity lives. Our coalition of grassroots activists has exposed the suffering and death caused to populations targeted with these measures, […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/why-the-sanctionskill-campaign-supports-bds/">Why the SanctionsKill Campaign Supports BDS</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[The <a href="https://sanctionskill.org/">SanctionsKill</a> campaign was formed in 2019 to raise awareness of the human cost of the “sanctions”—actually economic coercive measures—imposed by the United States and its allies on over 40 countries, in which one-third of humanity lives. Our coalition of grassroots activists has exposed the suffering and death caused to populations targeted with these measures, particularly among children, the elderly, and people with health conditions. We also strongly support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement advanced by Palestinian civil society as a legitimate way for grassroots activists around the world to pressure the settler-colonial state of Israel to comply with international law and recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination.
It is important to understand the distinction between BDS and imperialist economic coercive measures. While this includes legal differences, the most salient feature is that BDS is the peoples’ effort to end their governments’ complicity with Zionist colonial crimes, whereas US “sanctions” maintain imperialist hegemony by forcing countries to submit to US economic and political interests. The BDS movement comes from over a century of struggle for Palestinian liberation, with a global consensus of the world’s people that Zionist apartheid must end, while US-imposed “sanctions” are based on specious accusations of human rights violations to “continue the theft of wealth from the Global South, and <a href="https://internationalpeopletribunal.wordpress.com/report-and-judgement/">preserve racial hierarchy in the international system</a>.”
Some definitions and a bit of history can help to better understand the complementarity of BDS and SanctionsKill.
A definition of sanctions and their legality
The United Nations describes sanctions as restrictive measures imposed by the UN Security Council to enforce international law and maintain or restore peace and security, which may include “complete or partial interruption of economic, communications, or diplomatic relations.” Sanctions imposed unilaterally (without the UN Security Council) violate the UN Charter, and UN bodies are calling for the elimination of “unilateral coercive measures” such as those imposed by the US government. This global consensus is shown in the fact that for over 30 consecutive years, the UN General Assembly has voted almost unanimously to eliminate the US blockade of Cuba; the usual dissenting votes are only those of the US and Israel. Even UN Security Council sanctions are often manipulated by the US to impose collective punishment on civilians, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
What is BDS and how does it work?
BDS for Palestine is but one expression of a national liberation struggle that has been ongoing since the first Zionist settlement was established in 1878. Evoking the Great Revolt of 1936-39, the decades-long Arab Boycott initiated in 1945, the <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-181963/">1975 UN resolution</a> that declared “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination,” the 1975 <a href="https://archives.au.int/handle/123456789/802">Organization of African Unity</a> resolution that called for support of Palestine against “Zionist racist colonialism,” and the Intifadas, the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090822233952/http:/www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/January/19%20o/Divestment%20From%20Israel%20In%20Its%20Fifth%20Year%20A%20History%20and%20Method%20for%20US%20and%20European%20Activists%20By%20Eyad%20Kishawi.htm">international divestment movement</a> started in 2000 and was relaunched as boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) in 2005. It derives inspiration from the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) of South Africa which led hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens around the world to boycott goods from the Apartheid state from the 1950s to 1994. Students, churches, trade unions, and local groups pushed governments and businesses to divest. There was a cultural boycott and South Africa was banned from the Olympics and from FIFA competition between 1964 and 1992. “The strength of the international solidarity campaign was that it spoke directly to the ordinary citizen and challenged each one singly, and communities collectively, to take action.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc">1</a>
UN sanctions were also imposed on South Africa (including an arms embargo undermined by Israel), and the country was suspended from the UN General Assembly from 1974 to 1994. By the 1980s individual countries, including the US, were imposing sanctions. However, it seems that the boycott movement was more impactful than official sanctions, causing a “<a href="http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp796.pdf">privately induced financial crisis</a> — the repercussions of which were substantially greater than any of the public sanctions that ensued.” BDS against apartheid South Africa was a complement to the most important factor in bringing down the apartheid regime—the resistance of Black South Africans on the ground, including armed struggle.
The movement for BDS against Israeli apartheid has been accelerating since the start of the livestreamed genocide in October of 2023. This grassroots movement led by Palestinians in Palestine and in the diaspora, is inspiring millions to boycott consumer goods made in Israel and demand that Israeli weapons and surveillance companies be removed from their local economies, governments, and pension funds. Similar to the AAM of South Africa, billions of dollars have now been divested from the Zionist economy. Campaigns such as “Apartheid Free Communities” have moved public discourse towards an acknowledgement of the unjust, racist treatment of the Palestinian people. Divestment is again the rallying cry of students demanding an end to their universities’ complicity in human rights abuses, and there is an academic and intellectual boycott and call to ban the Israeli settler-colonial state from the <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-world-cup-or-olympics-in-us/">Olympics and FIFA competition</a>.
While the genocide takes the form of forced starvation, the world’s people are sickened to see that governments and international organizations are incapable or unwilling to stop atrocities committed in plain sight. In response, many have taken matters into their own hands through boycott and divestment. And as in South Africa, BDS is a complement to the main struggle on the ground in Palestine.
The BDS movement says that boycott and divestment necessarily come before sanctions, in order to build “a crucial mass of people power to make policymakers fulfill their obligations under international law.” It is an effort to move toward binding UN Security Council sanctions to oblige Israel to comply with the many General Assembly resolutions and International Court of Justice rulings demanding an end to Israel’s apartheid and genocide.
How do US “sanctions” work?
In contrast, the unilateral coercive measures (“sanctions”) promoted by the US are not intended to uphold international law or support peace and security, but rather to deliberately impose collective punishment on civilian populations in order to bring about regime change. This was revealed in a 1960 memo by a US diplomat explaining that a blockade of Cuba would “bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc">2</a> The United States government imposes these measures on countries that try to develop economic or political systems independent of US domination. And given the US’ “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/dollar-and-the-united-states-exorbitant-power-to-sanction/419F2FDF5BF6E052258DEE592853D6C3">exorbitant power to sanction</a>” due to the dominant role of its dollar in international trade and banking transactions, these measures are very impactful.
Economic coercive measures punish populations by impacting global trade, thus making it hard to import food, fuel, medicines, and parts to maintain civilian infrastructure. One consequence is the inability to import chemicals and parts to maintain water supply systems, causing severe shortages of clean drinking water, leading to massive child deaths.
Even UN sanctions can be manipulated for imperialist purposes. As Doa Ali said in <a href="https://www.tni.org/en/article/how-to-kill-an-entire-country">How to Kill an Entire Country</a>, “Iraq is a case in point of how the US has captured the UN Security Council’s sanctioning capacity using it to impose its own ‘rules-based global order’ and further its imperialist interests, regardless of the human cost.” In 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and as the Soviet Union was collapsing, the US was able to engineer and oversee the imposition of severe UN sanctions on Iraq. These led to the deaths of over half a million Iraqi children from water-borne illnesses, vaccine-preventable diseases, and hunger—in a country that had achieved one of the highest per capita food production rates in the region. In the US-controlled committee that oversaw enforcement of the sanctions, the US ensured that “humanitarian exceptions” were denied and that “food itself was not considered a humanitarian necessity.”
US-promoted sanctions have killed over <a href="https://www.blackagendareport.com/former-un-rapporteur-human-rights-us-sanctions-have-killed-more-100-thousand-venezuelans">100,000 Venezuelans</a> since 2017, and <a href="https://www.waterjusticeinpalestine.org/weeklyfacts">12% of child deaths in Palestine</a> prior to October 2023 were from lack of clean drinking water due to the US-supported Israeli blockade. Further evidence that sanctions kill is the new report in the medical journal <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(25)00189-5/fulltext">The Lancet </a>which found that sanctions cause some 564,000 deaths annually—similar to global mortality from armed conflict—with 51% of the victims under age 5.
US-imposed coercive measures are based on extractive interests, dubious accusations of deficient democracy, and spurious charges of human rights violations, such as the allegation that Cuba is “trafficking” its doctors (they are actually proud participants in a <a href="https://www.paho.org/en/news/26-5-2017-cubas-henry-reeve-international-medical-brigade-receives-prestigious-award">renowned humanitarian project</a>) and that Cuba is a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT) because it hosted peace talks for Colombia. The SSOT allegation makes it extremely hard for a country to conduct any banking transactions, and together with the 63-year blockade, has caused a humanitarian crisis in Cuba. Such sanctions supposedly imposed to protect human rights are in fact the worst violators of human rights.
Conclusion 
As hope grows for a Free Palestine sooner rather than later, it is time to lift the siege on Gaza that has been blocking desperately needed supplies since 2007. The “exorbitant sanctioning power of the US” on all the countries of the region – including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Libya—will also end as these countries find alternative trade and financial arrangements, such as the BRICS, and a new multipolar order emerges.
The BDS movement to end Zionist violence, and the SanctionsKill campaign to abolish U.S. economic coercion, are not separate causes, but one movement for justice, sovereignty, and human dignity. Together they embody grassroots power against imperialist violence. They are people-led projects of hope and liberation, demanding a future free from the economic coercion that results in genocide, collective punishment, and colonial domination.
Differences between Imperialist Economic Coercive Measures
and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
<table width="779" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8">
<tbody>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="29">IMPERIALIST ECONOMIC COERCIVE MEASURES</td>
<td width="407">BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, AND SANCTIONS</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="77">Seek to coerce other countries to succumb to US interests</td>
<td width="407">Called for by the grassroots in the targeted country to end the world’s complicity with an apartheid settler-colonial regime
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="53">Based on spurious accusations of human rights violations</td>
<td width="407">Based on a consensus of the world’s people about grave human rights violations
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="30">Cause as many deaths as armed conflict</td>
<td width="407">Seeks to end deaths from Zionist genocide
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="53">Illegal under international law if unilateral or if they impose collective punishment</td>
<td width="407">A grassroots response to demand compliance with international law
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="77">Produces net transfer of wealth from Global South, consolidating US/western capitalist hegemony</td>
<td width="407">Seeks to end settler colonial, white supremacist Zionist project that upholds US/western capitalist hegemony
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="30">A tool of US imperialism</td>
<td width="407">Confronts US imperialism
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="53">Undermines national sovereignty</td>
<td width="407">Anti-colonialist movement for democratic-national liberation 
 </td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td width="338" height="29">A project of death</td>
<td width="407">A project of liberation and hope for the future 
 </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
ENDNOTES:
<div id="sdfootnote1">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a> Z. Pallo Jordan, “Foreword” in International Brigade Against Apartheid, ed. Ronnie Kasrills, Jacana Media, 2021.
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2">
<a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a> Mallory, Lester D. 1960. “Memorandum from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory),” US Department of State, Central Files, 737.00/4-660, in Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) 1958–1960, Volume VI, Cuba: (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1991), p. 885.
</div>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/why-the-sanctionskill-campaign-supports-bds/">Why the SanctionsKill Campaign Supports BDS</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Winston and Smith</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/winston-and-smith/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[J.S. O’Keefe]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 14:29:25 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Fiction]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Winston Smith]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161580</guid>
<description><![CDATA[“Let’s continue where we left off yesterday. What’s your name, when and where were you born? Hellllloo!” “Winston Smith,” the prisoner replies. The vizier turns to the linguistics professor from the University of Alexandria. “Now you’ve heard it. Whenever we ask him a question, he remains silent or only answers with the same two words, […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/winston-and-smith/">Winston and Smith</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[“Let’s continue where we left off yesterday. What’s your name, when and where were you born? Hellllloo!”
“Winston Smith,” the prisoner replies.
The vizier turns to the linguistics professor from the University of Alexandria. “Now you’ve heard it. Whenever we ask him a question, he remains silent or only answers with the same two words, winston and smith.”
The scholar stares into the man’s eyes. “My good fellow, do you realize you might be in serious trouble unless you cooperate?”
“Winston Smith.”
“Sorry,” the linguist tells the vizier, “winston and smith don’t ring a bell. Obviously not Egyptian, that we would understand. Nor Greek, Latin or Aramaic, I speak those languages fluently.” He turns back to the prisoner. “Where did you learn those foreign words?”
“Winston Smith.”
The professor scratches his head. “No, I don’t recognize those words. We can also discount both Gaulish and Germanic, although smith might be from a strange Germanic dialect.” He sighs. “Sorry, friend, you’re being intransigent, so I cannot help you. What you keep repeating sounds esoteric, and may not be real language.”
“Winston Smith.”
Then the vizier takes the prisoner to the courtroom.
Normally a jovial and compassionate man, the judge loses it in no time as the defendant answers every question with “Winston Smith.”
“It doesn’t make sense!” exclaims the judge. “Apparently winston and smith are not even words in any known language. Contempt of court, that’s exactly what you’re doing here. Just a few days ago you were an upright citizen, a good family man, the pharaoh’s chief geometrician, and then out of nowhere you decided to go out stir up trouble among the peasants and the slaves! What’s wrong with you?”
“Winston Smith.”
“Enough! That’s it. I sentence you to ten years of lavatory work in the central temple, during which you’re going to be allowed minimal interaction and only work-related communication with others. No contact with family or friends! More importantly, you’re not allowed to talk politics, and if you ever again utter those words, winston and smith, in public, I will extend your sentence to forced labor at the pyramids for the rest of your life.”
After they take the prisoner away, the vizier turns to the judge. “Isn’t that a little harsh? After all, winston and smith don’t mean anything. Could be gibberish from a poor guy who suddenly went mental for no good reason. Troubled soul, lost in his own world. Nowadays we see more and more of this kind.”
“Well, I agree, it could seem too harsh,” says the judge. “But truth be told, I just don’t care for the sound of ‘winston smith.’ After having heard it several times, there’s a certain subversive ring to it. What if too many other people start thinking of ‘winston smith?’ I sense potential danger lurking.”The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/winston-and-smith/">Winston and Smith</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Clear Conclusions: A UN Commission Finds Israel Responsible for Genocide in Gaza</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/clear-conclusions-a-un-commission-finds-israel-responsible-for-genocide-in-gaza/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Binoy Kampmark]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:11:15 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Genocide]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Hunger/Famine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[International Court of Justice]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Israel (part of Mandate Palestine)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[South Africa]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[United Nations]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[United Nations Human Rights Council]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Croatia v Serbia]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Francesca Albanese]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Isaac Herzog]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Judge Awn Al-Khasawneh]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Navi Pillay]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Yoav Gallant]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161626</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Yet another blistering addition to the ghoulish accounts of cruelty regarding the ongoing actions of Israel in Gaza made its appearance on September 16. It came in the form of a report by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a lashing publication finding Israel guilty of committing genocide […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/clear-conclusions-a-un-commission-finds-israel-responsible-for-genocide-in-gaza/">Clear Conclusions: A UN Commission Finds Israel Responsible for Genocide in Gaza</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Yet another blistering addition to the ghoulish accounts of cruelty regarding the ongoing actions of Israel in Gaza made its appearance on September 16. It came in the form of <a class="western" href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-crp-3.pdf">a report</a> by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a lashing publication finding Israel guilty of committing genocide on the Strip. Of the five elements outlined in the 1948 Genocide Convention, Israel was found guilty of four. (The state’s interest in transferring Palestinian children from one group to another is yet to show itself.)
The relevant acts outlined in the report include instances of killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, and imposing measures intended to prevent births, all conducted with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian people as a group. “Today we witness in real time how the promise of ‘never again’ is broken and tested in the eyes of the world,” <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-16/israel-committing-genocide-in-gaza-un-report-says/105780230">said</a> the Commission’s chair Navi Pillay in a press conference following the report’s release.
This report finds itself in the adhesive if gruesome company of such publications as Amnesty International’s December 2024 effort, <a class="western" href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8668/2024/en/">You Feel Like You are Subhuman</a> to the August 2025 <a class="western" href="https://genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf">conclusions</a> of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. The Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, has also been admirably busy <a class="western" href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-palestine">drumming up interest</a> in the links between genocide and starvation. Such bountiful material has yet to convince the Israeli authorities to pause their efforts in Gaza, now culminating in the systematic destruction of Gaza City and the displacement of its population.
The Commission authors, all sound and weighty figures of international jurisprudence, also found that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant “incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this incitement.” More broadly, Israel’s political and military leaders responsible for prosecuting the war strategy “are ultimately responsible for the commission of the underlying acts of genocide by members of the Israeli security forces”, with such leaders being “agents of the State of Israel”.
The mental state for establishing genocide had been established by relevant statements made by members of the Israeli authorities. In addition to this, there was “circumstantial evidence of genocidal intent and that genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference that could be drawn from the totality of the evidence.” Israeli authorities and security forces “had and continue to have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
The Commission also makes various recommendations, including the obvious one of ending the commission of genocide and Israel’s compliance with the three provisional orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made in January, March and May last year; the immediate implementation of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and conclusion of military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory that entail genocidal acts; the restoration of the United Nations aid model, unimpeded; and the investigation and punishment of acts of genocide and incitement to genocide against the Palestinians in the Strip.
Pointed words are also reserved for the international community, among them that all Member States pull their weight in insuring the prevention of genocidal acts in the Strip, cease the transfer of arms and equipment to Israel or third parties “where there is reason to suspect their use in military operations that have involved or could involve the commission of genocide”, ensure that corporations and individuals within their territories and jurisdiction are not part of the genocidal program, and facilitate necessary investigations and prosecutive proceedings against the State of Israel and corporations and individuals regarding genocide, its facilitation and incitement.
The Commission arose in 2021, <a class="western" href="https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/RES/S-30/1">when it was established</a> by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel. The September report makes much of three previous reports issued by the COI, and three papers relevant to international law violations committed by all the parties to the conflict.
To have reached findings of genocidal intent is a tall order indeed. The mental threshold needed to satisfy genocidal intent is a dizzyingly high bar to meet. The ICJ, even as it considers Israel’s own actions in Gaza at the <a class="western" href="https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192">litigious prodding</a> of South Africa, has shown itself reluctant to identify the destructive intent (dolus specialis) against an identifiable group as protected by the UN Genocide Convention. In the <a class="western" href="https://www.icj-cij.org/case/91/judgments">Bosnia v Serbia</a> case, Serbia was not found to be responsible for the commission of genocide, but for its failure in preventing it with respect to the killings of over 7,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in July 1995. The Court imposed a giddy standard of proof: that the pattern of acts in destroying the identifiable group should “have to be such that it could only point to the existence of such intent”. It was a standard criticised by Judge Awn Al-Khasawneh in his <a class="western" href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/91/091-20070226-JUD-01-01-EN.pdf">dissenting opinion</a>, feeling that such acts as “population transfers” and “evidence of massive killings systematically targeting the Bosnian Muslims” evidenced obvious genocidal intent.
In 2015, the ICJ <a class="western" href="https://www.icj-cij.org/case/118">also found</a> that neither Serbia or Croatia had committed acts of genocide against each other’s populations during the disintegration of Yugoslavia, despite killings and the infliction of serious bodily or mental harm to both groups by virtue of them being members of an ethnic group.
Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade, in his dissenting opinion in Croatia v Serbia, proffers a salutary observation: “perpetrators of genocide will almost always allege that they were in armed conflict, and their actions were taken ‘pursuant to an ongoing military conflict’; yet, ‘genocide may be a means for achieving military objectives just as readily as military conflict may be a means for instigating a genocidal plan”.
There is certainly much to draw upon, be it the Commission’s findings, or the excoriating <a class="western" href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/">report</a> by UN Special Rapporteur Albanese. The latter tartly exposes the misuse of international humanitarian law as an instrument of Israeli advancement, making a mockery of aid to the very people the state seeks to dislocate, kill and humble.
The response from Israel is also instructive in terms of how that state fits within the law of nations, which it has sought to reinterpret with postmodern elasticity. A <a class="western" href="https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1967849154509459799">statement</a> from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes short work of the report as “distorted” and “false”, accusing the authors as “Hamas proxies, notorious for their antisemitic positions” and demanding the “immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.” That would be all too convenient. The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/clear-conclusions-a-un-commission-finds-israel-responsible-for-genocide-in-gaza/">Clear Conclusions: A UN Commission Finds Israel Responsible for Genocide in Gaza</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Inadequate Responses Leading to Calculated Atrocities</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/inadequate-responses-leading-to-calculated-atrocities/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dan Lieberman]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:02:59 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Anti-semitism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Gaza]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Genocide]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Israel (part of Mandate Palestine)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Judaism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Narrative]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[West Bank]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Herman Goering]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jacques Goudstikker]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[paintings]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Rasmiya Barghouti]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161585</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As the tragedy facing the Palestinians unfolds to an ultimate tragedy, we become aware of the true nature of the catastrophe, exhibiting unique elements that ponder our minds and disrupt our lives. (1) It is more than genocide. Can there be anything more than genocide? This is a slow burn; decades of daily horror and […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/inadequate-responses-leading-to-calculated-atrocities/">Inadequate Responses Leading to Calculated Atrocities</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div dir="auto">
<div dir="auto">
As the tragedy facing the Palestinians unfolds to an ultimate tragedy, we become aware of the true nature of the catastrophe, exhibiting unique elements that ponder our minds and disrupt our lives.
(1) It is more than genocide. 
Can there be anything more than genocide? This is a slow burn; decades of daily horror and anguish, without care of inflicted pain and sorrow, observing helpless humans crumble before the onslaught, children buried alive as parents watch helplessly, extended families of 70 persons erased by calculated missile strikes and surviving children left to cry for the losses throughout their lives. The genocidal killers relish their murderous acts, responding to the screams of grief with joy and laughter, never expressing a bit of remorse, vicariously drinking the blood.
(2) Major democratic nations enable and support the genocide. 
Is this possible? How can any nation benefit from supporting an obvious and recognized genocide? Yet, it has happened — United States, Germany, and United Kingdom have supplied Israel with military, economic, and moral support to liquidate the Palestinians.
(3) The genocide is an international effort. 
People far from Gaza and the West Bank financially and vocally assist in the genocide — raising funds for Israel, supplying intelligence, influencing media and legislatures to support the genocidal killers. Israel’s Mossad travels continents to solicit intelligence and liquidate those who confront Israel. The murderous Mossad killers are never apprehended
(4) Forces rallied to combat the genocide have been unable to organize effectively. Responses have been inadequate and have not prevented continuous atrocities.
(5) There exists a supplication mystery, where Jews and Israel receive subdued criticism and are treated in a humble manner, with reverence and devotion from many populations.
(6) The genocide has revealed that elements of the Jewish people have consistently pursued tactics of falsely representing their actions and misrepresenting actions against them. Zionists have gained adherents from centuries of spurious charges of anti-Semitism and from postured victimization. Anti-Semitism is a made up word for economic and social rivalries in which opponents criticized Jewish endeavors.
(7) A principal feature of this genocide is the killers using the genocide to their advantage, turning crimes into opportunities. Protesting against the genocide is an anti-Semitic act that should be condemned. Slaughtering innocent people, starving them, making them homeless, and depriving them of their livelihood does not constitute genocide; an estimated group of 6000 militants and civilians, enraged by decades of oppression and atrocities committed by Israeli Jews upon their families, manage to kill 1200 Israelis, of which 283 were soldiers and 57 were police officers, and are depicted as intending to commit genocide on the nuclear equipped Israeli nation.
The Zionist Jews are the elephant in the room. Although a Jewish termed nation, supported by an apparent majority of Zionist Jews throughout the world, are committing the genocide, any hint of Jews being involved in the slaughter is… well…anti-Semitism. However, Israeli officials make all Gazans responsible for the October 7 attack on Israelis who have appropriated their ancestral lands.
Arguments against participation by worldwide Jewry in the genocide can evolve into a war against the Zionist Jews, and not just those murderers. Everyone who deliberately assists in the genocidal crimes is arousing hatreds that stimulates violent rages. Israel has stimulated that pattern by going around the world, bombing peoples and executing anyone it does not like or considers a threat to a Jewish nation.
Allegiance Mystery — numerous studies show Jewish people in the United States, where they are most prominent outside of Israel, have the highest incomes, are well educated, and have higher life expectancy rates compared to the national average, and an elevated percentage of U.S. Zionist Jews favor and assist a faraway country that is causing them grief and making them pariahs of the world. Is jeopardizing the best life a person can want a sound behavior? This mysterious modus operandi shines a dark light on the internationalization of the genocide, indicating Zionist Jews operate as an international conspiracy, and not with all their marbles. A great mass of the Zionist Jewish population exhibits derangement, desiring to be victims and appealing to the world to victimize them.
Supplication Mystery — centuries of charges of anti-Semitism and victimhood have been decisively challenged and Zionist opponents couch their rhetoric with “an understanding that Jews have suffered through the ages and the Palestinians have not been guilty of their suffering.” This appeal to a moral conscience has no effect on those who demonstrate they have no morality. It is similar to telling a serial killer that you recognize he may have had a poor upbringing but that is no reason to slaughter others.
When will the world recognize that this is not a colonial enterprise, that there are no one- state, two state, and other state solutions. This is a criminal enterprise, which recognizes no laws, listens to no arguments, eschews all compromises, and is a menace to all civilization.
The control exhibited by those who have a one-sided view of the world is shown by the constant references to discovered “looted Paintings” of Jews during World War II. Eighty-five years after the incidents and of zero interest to most anyone, two cases made the front pages recently. The more prominently mentioned involved the discovery of a painting in a home for sale in Argentina. A photo of the living room displayed a painting previously owned by Jewish art dealer, Jacques Goudstikker.
Jacques Goudstikker left the Netherlands with his family in May 1940, immediately after the German army invaded, and of course, without his huge art collection. Unfortunately, he died in an accident aboard the SS Bodegraven. The art collection can be technically called looted, but it was not looted from a Jewish family; it was abandoned to the art dealer’s employees, who sold the artworks to some German officials, supposedly, including Herman Goering, and to others. This insignificant story tells a big story.
Tens of millions of refugees from nations during World War II and from the Middle East and African nations after World War II have forfeited property or sold them at low prices — land, money, jewels, cultural artifacts — and we hear nothing about their losses. Not a line item on the stealing ─ not selling at low prices but STEALING ─ of Palestinian land, money, jewels, and cultural artifacts by the Zionist Jews, right down to the curtains. From Remembering the Palestinian Nakba, Bassemah Darwish & Nasser Barghouti, Green Left, May 10, 2008, reciting the experience of Rasmiya Barghouti.
<blockquote>Twenty years since I had seen Northern Galilee. I was finally given a permit by the Israeli military authorities to visit and decided to take my daughters with me. It took less than three hours to reach Safed, renamed Tsvat by Israel after 1948. The van stopped in front of the white stone home that held childhood memories. I proceeded to the familiar metal door, where I knocked. A large eastern European woman opened the door. We argued. I returned to the van, my hardened face wet with tears. She wouldn’t let me in! She still has the same curtains I made with my mother.</blockquote>
Judaism, and its humanism, are subdued and cannot be easily revived. The word “Jew” has lost its meaning, replaced with an adjective describing its derivative, the Israeli Jew. In place of humanistic Judaism is an atavistic revival of the ancient Hebrews, guided by Joshua and the recreation of the old Testament tale of crazed and violent behavior.
<blockquote>From the cities of these peoples which YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall surely annihilate them … just as YHWH your God has commanded you so that they may not teach you to do any of the abominations that they do for their gods, and you thus sin against YHWH your God. — Deuteronomy 20:16–17</blockquote>
<blockquote>So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted to destruction all that breathed, just as the LORD God of Israel commanded.” — Joshua 10:40</blockquote>
Expect the Knesset to be dissolved and the Sanhedrin to be restored.
People still supplicate to the artificially created and genocidal Israeli Jews, and a baffled world continues with inadequate responses to the calculated atrocities.
</div>
</div>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/inadequate-responses-leading-to-calculated-atrocities/">Inadequate Responses Leading to Calculated Atrocities</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>The Real Culprit?</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/the-real-culprit/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Allen Forrest]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Assassinations]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Cartoon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Israel (part of Mandate Palestine)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[The Lobby]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Bill Ackman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Candace Owens]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Charlie Kirk]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Marjorie Taylor Greene]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161602</guid>
<description><![CDATA[  “Max Blumenthal Reports: Charlie Kirk and the Israel Lobby!” Max Blumenthal (with Anya Parampil) investigates recent claims that Charlie Kirk, the high-profile conservative commentator and founder of TPUSA, had begun pushing back against pro-Israel influence—and as a result, was being pressured, intimidated, and even offered funding by Israeli leaders or wealthy Zionist backers in […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/the-real-culprit/">The Real Culprit?</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_51_12x9_ink_on_paper_w.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-161603" src="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_51_12x9_ink_on_paper_w-768x1024.png" alt="" width="500" height="667" srcset="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_51_12x9_ink_on_paper_w-768x1024.png 768w, https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_51_12x9_ink_on_paper_w-225x300.png 225w, https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/other_narratives_51_12x9_ink_on_paper_w.png 900w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></a>
  
“<a href="https://old.bitchute.com/video/GceyZzZzYlc/">Max Blumenthal Reports: Charlie Kirk and the Israel Lobby!</a>” 
Max Blumenthal (with Anya Parampil) investigates recent claims that Charlie Kirk, the high-profile conservative commentator and founder of TPUSA, had begun pushing back against pro-Israel influence—and as a result, was being pressured, intimidated, and even offered funding by Israeli leaders or wealthy Zionist backers in exchange for staying in line…. Zionists Rebuffed by Charlie Kirk.
“<a href="https://old.bitchute.com/video/czVBmqZP6Ss/">They Are Lying About Charlie Kirk. | Candace Ep 235</a>”The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/the-real-culprit/">The Real Culprit?</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Kirkwashing: Right Sanitizing Charlie Kirk’s Legacy</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/kirkwashing-right-sanitizing-charlie-kirks-legacy/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bill Berkowitz]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:28:31 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Assassinations]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Christianity]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Obituary]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Melissa Hortman]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mike Johnson]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Turning Point USA]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161598</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, right-wing politicians, Christian evangelical leaders, podcasters, and conservative media outlets are casting him as a martyr for free speech, for truth, and for Christian values. President Donald Trump called Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom,” praising him as someone who “fought for liberty, democracy, justice and the […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/kirkwashing-right-sanitizing-charlie-kirks-legacy/">Kirkwashing: Right Sanitizing Charlie Kirk’s Legacy</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img decoding="async" title="FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with moderator Charlie Kirk, during a Generation Next White House forum at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, March 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)" src="https://cdn.prod.dailykos.com/images/1476888/story_image/AP25253686610133.jpg?1757604434" srcset="https://cdn.prod.dailykos.com/images/1476888/story_image/AP25253686610133.jpg?1757604434 1024w, https://cdn.prod.dailykos.com/images/1476888/lightbox/AP25253686610133.jpg?1757604434 768w, https://cdn.prod.dailykos.com/images/1476888/large/AP25253686610133.jpg?1757604434 600w" alt="FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with moderator Charlie Kirk, during a Generation Next White House forum at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Thursday, March 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)" width="505" height="356.5" />
In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, right-wing politicians, Christian evangelical leaders, podcasters, and conservative media outlets are casting him as a martyr for free speech, for truth, and for Christian values. President Donald Trump called Kirk “a martyr for truth and freedom,” praising him as someone who “fought for liberty, democracy, justice and the American people.” Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/09/11/us-news/charlie-kirk-remembered-as-americas-greatest-martyr-by-turning-point-usa-in-touching-tribute/">called him</a> “America’s greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored.”
At a prayer vigil that drew hundreds to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Sunday night,
House Speaker Mike Johnson told the crowd that Kirk’s “movement was a ministry,” rooted in the belief that “our rights do not derive from the state or a king. They come from the King of Kings.”
As The Forward’s Benyamin Cohen <a href="https://forward.com/news/769333/charlie-kirk-christian-martyr-debate/">reported</a>, “The vigil, which drew Republicans, Trump administration officials and Kirk’s loyal followers, crystallized the narrative that has come to dominate the conservative universe in the days since his assassination: that he was more than a political activist — he was a martyr in an existential struggle between good and evil.”
But no matter how the right spins it, Charlie Kirk was no Martin Luther King, Jr., no Medgar Evers, no Malcolm X. Far from embodying the principles of those leaders. and despite his tragic death, there is no way to hide his record of homophobia, anti-feminism, anti-immigration, anti-abortion, and hostility toward civil rights. He dismissed the separation of church and state, as “a fabrication.” He stood firmly with the gun lobby with his inviolate pro-gun views.
In the rush to canonize Kirk, one should not forget that Kirk embodied division and scapegoating.
At Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, the Rev. Howard-John Wesley countered the right-wing’s narrative, delivering a searing and emotional <a href="https://thegrio.com/2025/09/15/rev-dr-howard-john-wesley-calls-out-selective-rage-over-charlie-kirks-death-in-fiery-viral-sermon/">critique</a> of efforts to sanitize Kirk’s legacy.
“Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be assassinated,” Wesley said. “But I’m overwhelmed seeing the flags of the United States of America at half-staff, calling this nation to honor and venerate a man who was an unapologetic racist and spent all of his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land.”
Kirk regularly disparaged the Civil Rights Act, the landmark 1964 legislation outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Speaking at AmericaFest in December 2023, Kirk called Martin Luther King Jr. “not a good person” and “awful.”
At the same event, Kirk said “we made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s,” and “passage … created a ‘permanent DEI-type bureaucracy.’”
He often criticized affirmative action and made inflammatory comments about Black people and other racial minorities, including saying “In urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target White people” on his podcast in 2023.
Wesley criticized people with “selective rage” who condemned Kirk’s killing but not the killing of Minnesota state Sen. <a title="" href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/14/us/melissa-hortman-minnesota-assassination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Melissa Hortman</a> and her husband, Democrats who were shot dead in their home in June, as well as those who “tell me I oughta have compassion for the death of a man who had no respect for my own life.”
“You do not become a hero in your death when you are a weapon of the enemy in your life,” Wesley said to raucous applause.
And that is the deeper truth obscured by the calls of martyrdom: Kirk’s death, while tragic, cannot cleanse his legacy of division, nor should it be used as a rallying cry to sanctify a politics of hate.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/kirkwashing-right-sanitizing-charlie-kirks-legacy/">Kirkwashing: Right Sanitizing Charlie Kirk’s Legacy</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Spreading My Ashes in the Twisting River</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/spreading-my-ashes-in-the-twisting-river/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Curtin]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:14:36 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Philosophy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[ashes]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Death]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[dust]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nikos Kazantzakis]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Zorba]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161614</guid>
<description><![CDATA[You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you’re looking for – Billy Joel, “You May Be Right” They say a stitch in time saves nine. They say it is always good to be prepared. They say Preparation-H is good for hemorrhoids. They say that Benjamin Franklin said, […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/spreading-my-ashes-in-the-twisting-river/">Spreading My Ashes in the Twisting River</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote>You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just might be a lunatic you’re looking for
– Billy Joel, “You May Be Right”</blockquote>
They say a stitch in time saves nine. They say it is always good to be prepared. They say Preparation-H is good for hemorrhoids. They say that Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” They say the Girl Scout motto is “Be Prepared.” They say so many things like that that make me feel ashamed for my lack of preparation.
I think I heard one of “they” say that despite some people who think that death is a failure, there are far more who now say you are passing the big test as you “pass” on. I hope so, for the night before last I dreamed I was back in high school, heading to school on the subway. I had a big math test but had fallen asleep while studying the night before. I was not prepared. I was trying desperately to catch up on my numbers when two pretty girls entered at the next stop and sat opposite me. My test preparation ended there, as my mind slipped from one plus one equals two, to which of the two would be mine. Then a further thought, as if from God, maybe one plus one does equal two, and they could both be mine. I failed the math test.
God knows, I don’t want to fail in life, so when I woke up this morning, all “they” have said flashed like lightning through my mind. I realized that all these profound past sayings were pushing me into a future for which I wasn’t prepared but must prepare now, get my ass in gear, as they say.
Since they say Franklin invented the lightning rod, I figured he must have known where lightning was before it flashed, a question that had long disturbed me to no end and whose answer left a blank in my mind until I realized it wasn’t. If you think that isn’t so, maybe you would clarify it for me, or should I look in Ben’s Poor Richard’s Almanac for an answer in one of his mathematical exercises that he included. I know how smart he was and he predicted that in the future we would be able to freeze the dead – cryonics – and resurrect them later on. I wonder where Ben Franklin is tonight. AI should know.
I realize that all desires are born in a lack, and when satisfied, they give birth to new lacks. It is a truth hard to swallow. But I still desire to be prepared despite such warnings.
Weirdly, I think back to something I read in the past as I consider how to prepare for the future. Not exactly my future since – you guessed it, I’ll be dead – but I hope it’s yours. We know how to count, but for all the predictive power of numbers and calculations, we don’t know when we will die. So many people wear conventional masks to hide this and other disturbing questions. They act as if all is copacetic when it isn’t.
In his book about his passionate life, Report to Greco, Nikos Kazantzakis, the Greek writer well-known for Zorba the Greek, recounts a time when he was looking at fierce African masks in a museum. They were made of wood, hide, and human skulls. He tells us:
<blockquote>In an effort to unravel the mystery of masks, I said to myself, the mask is our true face, we are these monsters with their bloody mouths, hanging lips, and horrifying eyes. A repulsive mask howls behind the beautiful features of the woman we love, chaos behind the visible world, Buddha behind Christ’s gentile face. Sometimes in the terrible moments of love, hate, or death the deceptive charm vanishes and we view truth’s frightening countenance…. I pretend to believe in mankind’s faces, and in this way I am able to live with my fellow human beings.</blockquote>
Then this great pretender, this great disbelieving believer, this modern Odysseus, this genius writes that a girl came and stood next to him. He was not prepared for what happened next, but you can imagine. It’s an old story, masks or not. It often happens that when you look ahead too much, no matter how smart you think you are, you fail to see who is standing beside you, and when you focus on planning the future, filling in all those little squares on the calendar, the present goes out of focus, and you are ensnared in the uncanny.
Kazantzakis ends his book with a dream of his beloved Cretan grandfather who came from the land of the dead to find him. Nikos is old now, dark hair has whitened. ”In the atmosphere of love,” he writes, “who can distinguish a flash from eternity …. My entire lifetime I was a bow in merciless, insatiable hands. How often those invisible hands drew and overdrew the bow until I heard it creak at the breaking point! ‘Let it break,’ I cried each time.”
He ends by telling his grandfather that he has come to recline as dust by his side, “that the two of us may await the Final Judgment together.”
It was that word “dust” that brought me back to the thought of my ashes and my preparations. I don’t want to fail. Mathematics was never my strength, so even if I could understand the relativity stuff, the meaning of e=mc2 and so on, I wouldn’t believe it. And I could study it all my life but I still wouldn’t care. I could have kept my head in the math book on the subway without looking up to see the girls smiling at me. Maybe I saw their masks. But I liked what I saw. As Kazantzakis’s great character Zorba the Greek tells his friend, boss, the uptight writer, to be free you need to cut the string that ties us to the calculating mathematical mindset:
<blockquote>You need a touch of folly to do that; folly, d’you see? You have to risk everything. But you’ve got such a strong head, it’ll always get the better of you. A man’s head is like a grocer; it keeps accounts. I’ve paid so much and earned so much and that means a profit of this much or a loss of that much! The head’s a careful little shopkeeper; it never risks all it has, always keep something in reserve. It never breaks the string. Ah no! It hangs on tight to it, the bastard! If the string slips out of it grasp, the head, poor devil, is lost, finished! But if a man doesn’t break the string, tell me, what flavor is left in life? The flavor of chamomile, weak chamomile tea! Nothing like rum – that makes you see life inside out!</blockquote>
So nine minus five equals four, or so they say. It means nothing to me. They say we live forward and remember backwards. They say time is a river that ends at the sea. They say there is a 34% chance of rain tomorrow at1 P.M. I’m sick of they; the hell with them! How are you with they?
Yet I’m still taking no chances. My ashes have been accumulating is a small custard cup for a year now, burnt down from the incense that is in the bathroom to make shit smell like roses. We like to make believe.
So I’m getting ahead of my life and going down to town to the twisting Housatonic River to scatter my ashes in advance. I too like to make believe. Ahead of what, you might wonder: one year, five, ten, fifteen, fifty? Math can’t tell us. I just hope the stench from the waste processing plant on the other side of the river doesn’t spoil the ceremony. I prefer roses.
Say what you want, call me an ashhole. Say this is all folly.
You may be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for.
But you can’t say I’m not preparing.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Billy Joel - You May Be Right (Official Video)" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jo9t5XK0FhA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/spreading-my-ashes-in-the-twisting-river/">Spreading My Ashes in the Twisting River</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>“90% of Nicaraguans Feel Spied Upon” – True, or Fake News?</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/90-of-nicaraguans-feel-spied-upon-true-or-fake-news/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Perry and Francisco Dominguez]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:12:23 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Daniel Ortega]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Fake News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nicaragua]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Propaganda]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sandinistas]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Surveillance]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[EL Pais]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Hagamos Democracia]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Jesús Tefel]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Luciano "Chano" García]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[USAID]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Wilfredo Miranda]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161609</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The “spied upon” headline from El Pais is unequivocal. The story, in the newspaper’s English-language edition, says that Nicaraguans live in “a climate of permanent surveillance” in which they distrust even their neighbors. Further, apparently harmless community meetings are really “a mechanism of social control” where they “feel watched.” El Pais sources a survey carried […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/90-of-nicaraguans-feel-spied-upon-true-or-fake-news/">“90% of Nicaraguans Feel Spied Upon” – True, or Fake News?</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[The “spied upon” headline from El Pais is unequivocal. The story, in the newspaper’s <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-09-08/revolutionary-surveillance-90-of-nicaraguans-feel-spied-upon.html">English-language edition</a>, says that Nicaraguans live in “a climate of permanent surveillance” in which they distrust even their neighbors. Further, apparently harmless community meetings are really “a mechanism of social control” where they “feel watched.” El Pais sources a survey carried out “independently” by an organization called Hagamos Democracia (“Let’s Make Democracy”), based in Costa Rica. Its president, Jesús Tefel, says that people can’t “express opinions openly for fear of being betrayed.” El Pais’s conclusion is that Nicaraguans live under “constant surveillance and repression.”
Is this true or is it fake news? To probe this question, let’s first take a look at the author of the article and the main sources used. 
Wilfredo Miranda, the journalist, is a Nicaraguan based in Costa Rica. He’s written <a href="https://english.elpais.com/author/wilfredo-miranda-aburto/">23 articles</a> for El Pais in the past twelve months, all but two of them negative stories about Nicaragua’s government. This is hardly surprising since his career has been entirely in opposition news outlets, such as Divergentes, which he founded, and Confidencial. The latter is owned by the wealthy Nicaraguan family of the Chamorros, who received <a href="https://twoworlds.me/nicaragua/is-usaid-a-criminal-organization-in-nicaragua-the-evidence-suggests-it-was/">at least $7 million from USAID</a> to promote opposition media in the run up to the attempted coup in Nicaragua in 2018. Miranda has also written for the UK <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/wilfredo-miranda">Guardian</a> and for the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/es/post-opinion/2021/08/18/la-prensa-nicaragua-asalto-daniel-ortega/">Washington Post</a>.
<a name="_Hlk208734417"></a>Hagamos Democracia is a non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1995 in Nicaragua, closed by the government in December 2018 and now based in Costa Rica. Its funding sources prior to its closure included <a href="https://afgj.org/nicanotes-nicaragua-virtual-reality-and-human-rights">USAID</a> (US$801,390) and the <a href="https://coha.org/the-other-nicaragua-empire-and-resistance/">National Endowment for Democracy</a> (US$525,000). In Costa Rica it <a href="https://nicaleaks.com/amenazo-de-muerte-al-presidente-ortega/">received</a> US $1,114,000 from Washington to work with exiled political activists. Its sparse <a href="https://hagamosdemocracia.org/">website</a> claims the NGO is independent. It says nothing about its funding sources or how it’s run.
Jesús Tefel, a Nicaraguan exiled in Costa Rica, became the organization’s president in 2024. Tefel is a founder of one of Nicaragua’s main opposition political parties and part of an initiative called “Monteverde,” which is attempting to unite these diverse groups. 
Behind Hagamos Democracia is Luciano “Chano” García, alleged to have <a href="https://nicaleaks.com/luciano-garcia-compro-presidencia-de-hagamos-democracia/">bought its presidency in 2017</a> until he stood down in Tefel’s favor last year. Chano is a long-time opponent of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government and a relative of former dictator Anastasio Somoza. An <a href="https://nicaleaks.com/amenazo-de-muerte-al-presidente-ortega/">organizer</a> of the coup attempt in 2018, he recruited known violent, criminals, called for the overthrow of the government and campaigned for police officers to desert their posts. When the coup attempt failed, he fled to Costa Rica, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/story.php/?story_fbid=1838948152819443&id=101008949946714">allegedly</a> with the help of a CIA agent. Chano is accused by Nicaragua’s attorney general of organized crime, terrorism, and conspiracy against the constitutional order.
Second, let’s look at the survey itself. How was it carried out when the population is supposedly “under constant surveillance”? How can Hagamos Democracia conduct a survey in a different country? We do not know because the survey has not been published, but previous surveys <a href="https://hagamosdemocracia.org/informes/">have been</a>. Here’s how they work:
<ul>
<li>Typically they have 400 respondents out of Nicaragua’s 7 million population, the bare minimum to ensure reasonable confidence in the results, provided that the sample is truly random. </li>
<li>But it isn’t: surveys are done using Whatsapp or Signal, limiting their coverage to people with smartphones who use those apps, excluding huge numbers of the government’s working-class supporters. </li>
<li>Respondents then have to fill in a Google questionnaire with around 45 questions – a further barrier, limiting the survey to those with the necessary skills and familiarity with such forms. </li>
<li>Worse still, assuming that those carrying out the survey say who they work for, many Sandinista sympathizers would simply hang up on hearing the words “Hagamos Democracia.”</li>
</ul>
Third, let’s look at the timing: the survey was carried out July 18 to 23 this year, precisely the weekend when millions of Nicaraguans were celebrating the 46th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution. There could hardly be a worse moment to carry out a balanced survey that required detailed attention to a survey form. 
Faced with all these facts, an objective observer would surely conclude that the survey is political propaganda and that a responsible newspaper would have ignored it.
In any case, a thoughtful reader might ask, if these neighborhood meetings are “a mechanism of social control”, why do people go to them? The reality is that, while naturally their effectiveness varies, many are excellent examples of grassroots democracy, designed to hold public services to account. For example, in the city of Masaya one barrio committee has been pushing for better garbage-collecting services and assists the local health center in ensuring that local people with chronic illnesses get treatment. A typical meeting in this barrio sees 100-200 neighbors listening to and questioning officials in a friendly atmosphere, far from the “repression” portrayed by El Pais. Such levels of participation should be the envy of western “democracies”, rather than being scorned.
El Pais also fails to set the context for the issues covered in the article. If readers knew that Nicaragua had suffered a violent, US-funded coup attempt in 2018, in which over 200 ordinary people and 22 police officers were killed in opposition violence that continued for three months, they might appreciate why a degree of vigilance is required. 
This omission is not surprising. El Pais’s demonization of Nicaragua goes back a long way. It unashamedly <a href="https://elpais.com/especiales/2019/represion-nicaragua/">supported</a> the 2018 “rebellion” and glorified the US-funded violence. Many of its articles about Nicaragua, like this one, appear to ignore its own <a href="https://elpais.com/info/codigo-etico/">ethical code</a> about balanced reporting.
El Pais ridicules President Ortega’s warning in July of growing threats from Washington, against a country whose defense budget is one of the smallest in the Americas. Yet the warning resonates with many Nicaraguans who want no repetition of 2018’s violence. Most regard Nicaragua’s standing as one of Latin America’s safest countries to be worth protecting and view with alarm the growing lawlessness in next-door Costa Rica (over 500 homicides in 2025 so far).
Readers might also wonder why El Pais singles out Nicaragua, when its readers in the West really are under “permanent surveillance.” According to some studies, those in the USA are caught on surveillance cameras <a href="https://studyfinds.org/americans-security-cameras-study">34 times a day</a>, while for people in the UK the <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/we-re-watching-you-britons-caught-on-cctv-70-times-a-day-6573202.html">number doubles</a>. Spain <a href="https://citizenlab.ca/2022/04/catalangate-extensive-mercenary-spyware-operation-against-catalans-using-pegasus-candiru/">uses</a> Israeli “Pegasus” spyware against those pushing for an independent Catalonia. And, of course, secret surveillance of our phone calls and emails has been revealed as widespread by Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers.
The irony of El Pais’s article is that, unconsciously, it pays a backhanded compliment to a country where – according to this fake news survey – only “90%” of Nicaraguans feel spied upon.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/90-of-nicaraguans-feel-spied-upon-true-or-fake-news/">“90% of Nicaraguans Feel Spied Upon” – True, or Fake News?</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Suspending Courses, Washing Delicates, and Baking: A University Justifies Harming Staff and Students</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/suspending-courses-washing-delicates-and-baking-a-university-justifies-harming-staff-and-students/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Binoy Kampmark]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:37:25 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Students]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Universities/Colleges]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Andrew Parfitt]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ella Haid]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[KPMG]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[University of Technology Sydney]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[UTS]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161607</guid>
<description><![CDATA[These people are a charming, lynch worthy bunch. In claiming they are short of cash, the managerial dunderheads at the University of Technology Sydney thought it prudent to throw A$4.8 million at the tax consultants KPMG to design what it calls the Operational Sustainability Initiative (OSI). The linking of these three words alone suggests that […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/suspending-courses-washing-delicates-and-baking-a-university-justifies-harming-staff-and-students/">Suspending Courses, Washing Delicates, and Baking: A University Justifies Harming Staff and Students</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[These people are a charming, lynch worthy bunch. In claiming they are short of cash, the managerial dunderheads at the University of Technology Sydney thought it prudent to throw A$4.8 million at the tax consultants KPMG to design what it calls the Operational Sustainability Initiative (OSI). The linking of these three words alone suggests that something sinister and inhumane is afoot, a program closer to an assassination or disposal program than a sensible readjustment. Indeed, the OSI <a class="western" href="https://www.afr.com/rear-window/safety-investigation-launched-at-uts-over-kpmg-s-job-slashing-plan-20250618-p5m8i2">became the subject</a> of a “notice to give information” in June from Safework NSW, accusing the university of “wilful and negligent mismanagement” of the restructuring undertaking “despite full knowledge that the process is causing significant psychological harm to staff, including documented instances of suicidal ideation, anxiety, and depression.”
The university, as reported in The Australian Financial Review in May, was hoping to give a savage pruning to the institution’s budget to the value of A$100 million. This initially <a class="western" href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/uts-to-cut-100m-and-sack-400-despite-surge-in-foreign-students-20250402-p5lofg">involved the sacking</a> of 400 staff members, a proposal cooked up even as five senior UTS executives <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-22/uts-alumni-senior-executives-us-trip/105554480">travelled</a> to the United States on an alumni trip worth A$140,000. That financially minded paper also <a class="western" href="https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/flearning-humanocracy-and-digital-fte-the-year-s-most-awful-jargon-20190527-p51rp2">wondered</a> why UTS ended up using KPMG “instead of its own staff to design this plan” in an adventurously asinine contract stuffed with such terms as “leveraging solutions”, “acceleration of value”, and “decision trees”. (Meaningless terms suggest a mind without meaning.) KPMG crows in convoluted ecstasy about a “six-layer framework for target operating model design”. No wonder the technocrats were so wooed by it all.
The suggested program from the firm was ordinary and, as with most products arising from such an organisation, prosaic. It could have just as easily been done by clumsy butchers with a plagiarised MBA. KPMG <a class="western" href="https://www.afr.com/rear-window/uts-pays-kpmg-4-8m-to-tell-it-how-to-save-money-20250506-p5lwzk">produced</a> spreadsheets dealing with courses and subjects that might be offered in future, which ones deserved to be confined to oblivion and what areas of research warranted interest as opposed to those that did not. Just to confirm the firm’s almost awe-inspiring lack of expertise, it was also called upon to examine “current and future state teaching capacity”.
Part of the <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-14/university-technology-sydney-dropping-courses/105654564">tool kit of advice</a> developed by KPMG to staff most likely heading for the chop developed into a ragbag of nonsense and piffle: to stay mentally sound, best wash delicates with your hands. Try to take up baking, because that is what a disturbed mind awaiting imminent suffering needs. Keep a gratitude journal. Make sure to brush and floss your teeth, because you obviously did not do that before a consultancy firm hired by a university told you to do.
There is every reason to suppose that ChatGPT could have come up with the same, risible nonsense, saving the shameful creeps in management some cash. But sound reasoning is not a prerequisite to those rising up the greasy towers of technocracy in learning institutions, let alone any other institution. Incompetence is often essential, while talent and ethical worth are impediments best done away with.
The vice-chancellor of the university is very much short of parfit, though sports the name Andrew Parfitt. He is adamant that no decisions have been made on job losses or the discontinuing of any courses which, knowing the pattern of university practices, is precisely the opposite of what will happen. “The temporary suspension is aimed at prospective new students for 2026.” This is the sort of shoddy reasoning we have come to expect from the vice-chancellorship and any number of university proconsuls and viceroys that suck the lifeblood out of education. Ella Haid, spokesperson of the UTS Students Association General Councillor and Stop the Cuts UTS, is hard to fault in <a class="western" href="https://honisoit.com/2025/08/uts-announces-temporary-suspension-of-courses/">her assessment</a> on this: “We should be clear that management is doing this because they’re pursuing a hefty financial surplus. They’ve no interest in seeking student or staff consultation on this major restructure.”
The response from UTS to reports, notably by the ABC, was one of dastardly fudging, oily manoeuvring and sickly denial. Rather than admitting to blunder, organisational insensitivity, and being outed, it attacked the national broadcaster for its reporting in a <a class="western" href="https://www.uts.edu.au/news/2025/08/UTSs-commitment-to-supporting-the-health-and-safety-of-our-staff">statement</a>. “We are disappointed that the ABC reported that these comprehensive support initiatives were only rolled out as a result of their reporting.”
The reports, claimed the university, had ignored context. “By focusing on just six dot points from a single article on an external wellbeing hub comprising extensive, differentiated resources, the ABC chose to portray this as being representative of the tone, intent and totality of support provided to UTS employees.”
The parasitic problems associated with university management have become critically colossal. Being unable to exist without attachment to the authentic university, that pulsing, thriving organism of cerebration sustained by students and research, the leadership of such bodies continues to make decisions that harm academic staff and any chance of a rich learning experience for students. (A <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-03/university-technology-sydney-staff-jobs-redundancies/105485548">survey</a> from the National Tertiary Education Union of 380 respondents from UTS found that 35% had experienced high levels of psychological distress from the OSI endeavour.)
That harm is then justified through cringeworthy programs of “wellbeing” and assistance, their very existence intended to exonerate the misdeeds of culprits who shamelessly engender an environment of emotional and intellectual terrorism. They create the bullets, use them, and drag out the psychological bandaging to conceal the wounds. 
Should courage ever be mustered by cowed academics and the atomised student body, the cosmos of the vice-chancellor and those complicit in sustaining it can finally be terminated with little sorrow and much relish. The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/suspending-courses-washing-delicates-and-baking-a-university-justifies-harming-staff-and-students/">Suspending Courses, Washing Delicates, and Baking: A University Justifies Harming Staff and Students</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Thinking Beyond the Bars: How Higher Education Helped Me Develop Confidence in Myself and Rediscover My Humanity</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/thinking-beyond-the-bars-how-higher-education-helped-me-develop-confidence-in-myself-and-rediscover-my-humanity/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Darrell Jackson]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Incarceration]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Clallam Bay Corrections Center]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Dwuan Conroy]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mullin-Coston]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[rehabilitation]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Seattle Central College]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Taking Education and Creating History]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161566</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ambitious young people are told that a college degree is necessary to launch a successful career. For me — a “lifer” taking courses from my cell in a state prison — higher education isn’t about job preparation but rediscovering my humanity, about learning to think beyond the bars. I’m not the first person to discover […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/thinking-beyond-the-bars-how-higher-education-helped-me-develop-confidence-in-myself-and-rediscover-my-humanity/">Thinking Beyond the Bars: How Higher Education Helped Me Develop Confidence in Myself and Rediscover My Humanity</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Ambitious young people are told that a college degree is necessary to launch a successful career. For me — a “lifer” taking courses from my cell in a state prison — higher education isn’t about job preparation but rediscovering my humanity, about learning to think beyond the bars.
I’m not the first person to discover the power of education while incarcerated, but I feel a responsibility to tell this story, not only to reach other prisoners but for all the people who feel left behind by educational institutions. There have been a lot of obstacles between me and higher education — times I didn’t believe in myself and times when institutions didn’t believe in people like me — but I have learned that no one has to settle for that.
Let me start with a stereotype of young Black men — that they think excelling in school is for nerds, not for tough guys on the street. That doesn’t describe all Black boys, of course, but it was true of the guys I ran with. I had loved learning when I was younger, but a combination of institutional failures and peer pressure knocked me off that path. I regret giving up so easily, which was reinforced by a school system that didn’t seem to care much about Black children. I ended up in that “school-to-prison pipeline” for the poor and marginalized.
A series of bad choices as a young adult led to my current residence in the Washington Corrections Center, serving a life-without-parole sentence. While incarcerated, I became a “better late than never” enthusiast for higher education.
But the prison system hasn’t made that easy. The tough-on-crime politics of the 1990s produced the federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, which eliminated almost all financial aid to prisoners. (It was only in 2023 that prisoners once again became eligible for Pell Grants.)
In 1995, Washington state passed a law that prohibited public funding to support higher education for prisoners beyond adult basic education and the General Education Diploma (GED). Prisoners who had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole were denied access to more than one post-secondary degree, unless it was pre-vocational or vocational training was needed for their work in prison. The legislation was supposed to eliminate “unnecessary” spending by the Department of Corrections. (That law was partially repealed in 2017, allowing some funding up to two-year degrees.)
Tough-on-crime laws — including “Three Strikes, You’re Out” and “Hard Time for Armed Crime” — led to larger prison populations in Washington state and around the country. Access to education was not a priority, and budget cuts after the 2008 recession led the Department of Corrections to prioritize education for prisoners with less than seven years on their sentence. The rest of us were out of luck.
Don’t ask me to explain how that fits with the rehabilitation mission of prisons — people who are incarcerated know the gap between that rhetoric and the reality of warehousing prisoners. That’s why incarcerated people have done much of the work themselves, one of the most exciting aspects of my experience.
My introduction into higher education began in 2015 through my experience with the <a href="https://www.kimonticarter.com/teach" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kimonticarter.com/teach&source=gmail&ust=1757992514906000&usg=AOvVaw34qT2zNDYhKLVVTm0rp1x7">TEACH program</a> (Taking Education and Creating History) at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, another prison where I was incarcerated. TEACH was created in 2013 by the Black Prisoners Caucus to address the educational disparities that exist within the prison system for minority, long-term, and undocumented prisoners.
That experience helped me rediscover my humanity.
At that facility, we had a healthy working relationship with prison officials, who gave us classroom space. Through TEACH, we were able to develop and facilitate the courses we needed. We understood that the educational system had left most of us behind, and I learned that some of us came with life experiences and credibility that some of the most decorated professionals did not have.
But we couldn’t deepen our knowledge from experience without help. TEACH leaders established a relationship with Peninsula College and Seattle Central College. For me, getting ready for college-level study took some work.
Before I could start taking college courses, I needed to earn certificates in college-prep math and anger management. After the completion of those two nine-week courses, I took African American studies, a parenting class, and college-prep writing. Then I felt ready to take my first college course through Seattle Central. That sociology class required a lot of writing, which was intimidating at first, but I loved what I was learning, and that course showed me that my experience was shaped by larger social forces.
At the beginning of my college journey, I was uncertain of my ability, an insecurity rooted in so many bad experiences in school. But TEACH had helped me believe in myself, teaching me not to accept the limits of the bars I lived behind, and eventually I was able to start giving back to the program. I was given a chance to facilitate the stress and anger-reduction class I had taken, which led to me joining the program’s board at Clallam Bay. After being transferred to Washington Corrections Center, I was elected vice chair of the program when it was brought to that prison in 2018.
As I worked with the program, I learned my experience was not unusual.
I talked with Taking Education and Creating History) at Clallam Bay Corrections Center a prisoner-student who went on to create and facilitate a sound and song-production course at WCC, which taught prisoners to play and create songs on a keyboard. He said that initially he wasn’t sure he could teach a class, let alone one that he created. TEACH helped him gain the confidence he needed, encouraging him to teach the course the way he thought best. More prisoners sought his expertise, deepening his confidence.
Dwuan Conroy, another TEACH student, said that in addition to the direct benefits for him, the funding for this program took the burden off his wife and family to pay for his education. And when he is released, his enhanced ability to set goals and meet deadlines means that he’ll have a chance at better paying jobs. And, he said, it shows his family that he is making the changes needed to be a better man.
Unfortunately, six months later Mullin-Coston’s sound course was canceled, because it was “not serving a facility need.” That is an example of short-sighted decision-making. If we care about rehabilitation, any learning that creates a positive environment and promotes healthy interactions among prisoners should be seen as a crucial facility need.
The COVID pandemic also created obstacles, shutting down the WCC TEACH partnership with Centralia College and Seattle Central. Conroy was enrolled in courses in biology, anthropology, and English, but lockdowns meant that formal classes were canceled. With little help available from teachers and staff, he said, the prisoner-students relied on each other to finish courses.
“It was these interactions with other prisoners that helped me through the course work despite my learning disabilities,” Conroy said. ”Knowing I had others around in TEACH that could help me through it and not judge, that empowered me to continue my focus during such a difficult time.”
Once the college’s staff members where allowed back into the prison, it was clear that our peer-support work had been crucial in keeping us on track, and 10 students graduated in the fall of 2023.
Taxpayers and politicians who prioritize punishment over rehabilitation may not care about how education enhances prisoners’ mental health and intellectual development. Once again, that’s short-sighted, because education also reduces recidivism. For every dollar spent on education programs, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/prison-reform" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.justice.gov/archives/prison-reform&source=gmail&ust=1757992514906000&usg=AOvVaw1X1k23SkotOBqwrkxUo9Up">four dollars are saved</a> on re-incarceration costs. <a href="https://standtogether.org/stories/strong-safe-communities/6-stories-of-transformation-from-prisoner-to-professional" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://standtogether.org/stories/strong-safe-communities/6-stories-of-transformation-from-prisoner-to-professional&source=gmail&ust=1757992514906000&usg=AOvVaw1fy2fZU-1xHmsAPHiHn6xo">One study</a> showed that prisoners who complete some high school courses have a recidivism rate of 55 percent. Vocational training cuts recidivism to 30 percent, an associate degree to 13.7 percent, and a bachelor’s degree to 5.6 percent. A master’s degree brings the recidivism rate down to zero,
Prison education is not a frivolous expense for society but instead an essential investment in human beings. Education reduces conflict among prisoners. Communities are safer when educated and empowered prisoners return home.
As for me, I need two classes to earn my associate degree, after which I want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in behavioral health, and perhaps a master’s degree someday. I still live behind bars. But developing my mind has helped me find the humanity in myself and see more clearly the humanity in others as well.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/thinking-beyond-the-bars-how-higher-education-helped-me-develop-confidence-in-myself-and-rediscover-my-humanity/">Thinking Beyond the Bars: How Higher Education Helped Me Develop Confidence in Myself and Rediscover My Humanity</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Three Precepts Muslims Should Remember</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/three-precepts-muslims-should-remember/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[B.R. Gowani]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Humanitarianism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Murder]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Allah]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Muhammad]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Priyantha Kumara]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Quran]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sialkot]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161530</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Priyantha Kumara was a Sri Lankan export manager in a factory in Sialkot, Pakistan who was falsely accused of insulting Islam. He was beaten to death and his body was set on fire on December 3, 2021. IMAGE/Lankan Muslims should remember three precepts: Allah is a concept – it cannot be destroyed. Muhammad is […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/three-precepts-muslims-should-remember/">Three Precepts Muslims Should Remember</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img decoding="async" class="CToWUd a6T" tabindex="0" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/meips/ADKq_Na_2ingndNvrxeWTylqYZL_6Q18gLXfZmGiV1eNfy_CW-Txz5bBQJD1eGLaOI7IBd1VTTZBBASI094ShGvxLy8ExcPpBkbRUvIpp1zoFJndPefIjwnN=s0-d-e1-ft#https://lankan.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/death-1024x580.jpg" alt="" data-bit="iit" />Priyantha Kumara was a Sri Lankan export manager in a factory in Sialkot, Pakistan who was falsely accused of insulting Islam. He was beaten to death and his body was set on fire on December 3, 2021. IMAGE/<a href="https://lankan.org/2021/12/04/pakisthan-is-dangerous-for-foreigners-a-sri-lankan-man-has-been-beaten-to-death-and-set-on-fire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://lankan.org/2021/12/04/pakisthan-is-dangerous-for-foreigners-a-sri-lankan-man-has-been-beaten-to-death-and-set-on-fire/&source=gmail&ust=1757948575007000&usg=AOvVaw3ERWh3aVoNFXomeDq3vgf7">Lankan</a>
Muslims should remember three precepts:
<ul>
<li> Allah is a concept – it cannot be destroyed.</li>
<li> Muhammad is with his Allah*, so is beyond any harm.</li>
<li> Quran is reprintable and can be replaced when haters burn Quran.</li>
</ul>
*A Quranic scripture with consoling words for bereaving believers at time of death is:
         “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inna_Lillahi_wa_inna_ilayhi_raji'un">Indeed, we belong to Allah, and indeed, to Him we will return.</a>”</li>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/three-precepts-muslims-should-remember/">Three Precepts Muslims Should Remember</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Marionettes</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/marionettes/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Allen Forrest]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 14:58:08 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Cartoon]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161516</guid>
<description><![CDATA[What is stringing up the puppets?
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/marionettes/">Marionettes</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/puppet_people_2_12x9_2019_w.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/puppet_people_2_12x9_2019_w-768x1024.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="667" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-161517" srcset="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/puppet_people_2_12x9_2019_w-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/puppet_people_2_12x9_2019_w-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/puppet_people_2_12x9_2019_w.jpg 1125w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></a>The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/marionettes/">Marionettes</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>A DSA Chapter Struggles With Zionism</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/a-dsa-chapter-struggles-with-zionism/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Klein]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 14:50:40 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Activism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Genocide]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Israel (part of Mandate Palestine)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Racism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Zionism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[antisemitism]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Democratic Socialists of America]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[IHRA definition]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Michael Harrington]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nithya Raman]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161487</guid>
<description><![CDATA[At its August 2025 biennial convention in Chicago, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) adopted a powerful resolution, “For a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA“. The resolution, which the 1200 delegates passed by 56 to 44 percent, has been recognized as a significant step forward for the organization. It makes “organizing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause a priority until Palestine is […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/a-dsa-chapter-struggles-with-zionism/">A DSA Chapter Struggles With Zionism</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[At its August 2025 biennial convention in Chicago, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__prospect.org_politics_2025-2D08-2D14-2Ddsa-2Dconvenes-2Dargues-2Dand-2Dcelebrates_&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=732tVGzesRHVWzVBgSy4tsffZkuC5_njYrdWAeyBSpI&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__prospect.org_politics_2025-2D08-2D14-2Ddsa-2Dconvenes-2Dargues-2Dand-2Dcelebrates_%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3D732tVGzesRHVWzVBgSy4tsffZkuC5_njYrdWAeyBSpI%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw2jsc7ADZqRES8ZqRDTA6e8">adopted</a> a powerful resolution, “<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__docs.google.com_document_d_1uVRuqCw1UKgNmurmCWvswerswEHHmkJ4UyXo8zvCVaM_edit&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=KnKMgGDtCzwr9AGKMQJys3vhymSKECQ-2NuEUngzStk&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__docs.google.com_document_d_1uVRuqCw1UKgNmurmCWvswerswEHHmkJ4UyXo8zvCVaM_edit%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DKnKMgGDtCzwr9AGKMQJys3vhymSKECQ-2NuEUngzStk%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3z1UIBLRKKotUNLr9S5nmw">For a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA</a>“. The resolution, which the 1200 delegates passed by 56 to 44 percent, has been recognized as a <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.instagram.com_p_DNd0uetAvYV_&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=dqsayvHRJCHn0efcVCt-XnrSSsAebEAom6j1JP02ErA&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.instagram.com_p_DNd0uetAvYV_%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DdqsayvHRJCHn0efcVCt-XnrSSsAebEAom6j1JP02ErA%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw09bCX-YyT4cpJe1bKGVtE3">significant step forward</a> for the organization. It makes “organizing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause a priority until Palestine is free” and recognizes the Palestinian people’s right to resistance and self-determination, with Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
The resolution stipulates that candidates for office, seeking national DSA endorsement or a DSA chapter endorsement, must “support the BDS movement, refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, and pledge to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians and support legislation that supports Palestinian liberation.” The resolution also requires that previously endorsed candidates holding office, who fail to uphold these expectations, must have their endorsements revoked. Much the same applies to DSA members themselves. Members face expulsion for making statements such as, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” or for knowingly providing financial aid to Israel.
The rationale for DSA’s anti-zionist resolution is clear. Zionism is a form of racism. Therefore, zionist members should be no more tolerated by a socialist organization than membership in the KKK, or any other manifestation of racism by a member. And yet, at the DSA chapter level, the Los Angeles chapter in particular, where I am a member, the struggle against liberal zionism continues.
When an <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.middleeasteye.net_news_largest-2Dus-2Dsocialist-2Dorganisation-2Dpasses-2Dresolution-2Dsupporting-2Dpalestinian-2Dresistance&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=mnRIx40e64CLV9EEalIL1aoHWx9MLFvow8LGPvQwJVA&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.middleeasteye.net_news_largest-2Dus-2Dsocialist-2Dorganisation-2Dpasses-2Dresolution-2Dsupporting-2Dpalestinian-2Dresistance%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DmnRIx40e64CLV9EEalIL1aoHWx9MLFvow8LGPvQwJVA%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw1MDqqHijdb3nwsiFTz7v3f">article</a> describing the new resolution was posted on a DSA-LA Signal chat, in August 2025, the response was largely negative. One person wrote that the resolution is “truly terrible” and should have been voted down. Another complained that the resolution might unfairly preclude people from making donations to synagogues that send collected money to Israel, and lamented, “like there just aren’t synagogues in la that don’t give money to israel.”
Another post expressed worry that Bat Mitzvah photos with Israeli flags in the background could violate national DSA’s anti-zionist resolution.
These and other oppositional posts received multiple positive emojis from other DSA-LA members. By contrast a post that called for honoring DSA’s commitment to BDS, and another which pointed to the Star of David on the Israeli flag as a <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__mondoweiss.net_2024_11_i-2Dstopped-2Dwearing-2Dthe-2Dstar-2Dof-2Ddavid-2Dbecause-2Dit-2Dhas-2Dbecome-2Da-2Dsymbol-2Dof-2Dsupremacy-2Dand-2Dfascism_&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=XqvkDaVOOeCuNm33StUKXeZ9ClWUwmFDw4DFc18a4Tw&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__mondoweiss.net_2024_11_i-2Dstopped-2Dwearing-2Dthe-2Dstar-2Dof-2Ddavid-2Dbecause-2Dit-2Dhas-2Dbecome-2Da-2Dsymbol-2Dof-2Dsupremacy-2Dand-2Dfascism_%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DXqvkDaVOOeCuNm33StUKXeZ9ClWUwmFDw4DFc18a4Tw%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw1S_P0YFd47MPJ6UGwoPld6">hate</a> <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__agelender.substack.com_p_the-2Dstar-2Dof-2Ddavid-2Das-2Dzionisms-2Dswastika&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=jH615EbrhmqhQ9uPTyIKFM0I0hefZ_vxHlYQn2iVq5o&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__agelender.substack.com_p_the-2Dstar-2Dof-2Ddavid-2Das-2Dzionisms-2Dswastika%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DjH615EbrhmqhQ9uPTyIKFM0I0hefZ_vxHlYQn2iVq5o%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw2P1QWmUKi1nvU2lU8CaKUu">symbol</a> (for examples from around the world, see <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.instagram.com_reel_DNVWlaBK2S8_&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=WWHyRVaCNIRsocZvf-08agiy-0eUddDaAPBevIIk4IY&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.instagram.com_reel_DNVWlaBK2S8_%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DWWHyRVaCNIRsocZvf-08agiy-0eUddDaAPBevIIk4IY%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw0jSOya3kBaHJxEDZp79A5t">here</a>, <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.middleeasteye.net_news_israeli-2Dpolice-2Daccused-2Dbranding-2Dstar-2Dof-2Ddavid-2Dpalestinian-2Dman-2Dcheek-2Dreport&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=SPegNptjyJEn56R4cwjW52w21qUel5E_wRMzz6ceCUU&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.middleeasteye.net_news_israeli-2Dpolice-2Daccused-2Dbranding-2Dstar-2Dof-2Ddavid-2Dpalestinian-2Dman-2Dcheek-2Dreport%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DSPegNptjyJEn56R4cwjW52w21qUel5E_wRMzz6ceCUU%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw08w2BAqZRMpDAnkAislc4d">here</a>, <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__english.wafa.ps_Pages_Details_80478&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=ZzqP6yI8jiJmfrU9Nto5w0m9_zTLk5sUib0NethJ_oM&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__english.wafa.ps_Pages_Details_80478%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DZzqP6yI8jiJmfrU9Nto5w0m9_zTLk5sUib0NethJ_oM%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw2winpKA6l93KhRvtyPe_rC">here</a>, <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__spectrumlocalnews.com_nc_coastal_news_2025_07_28_vandalism-2Dtexas-2Dcalifornia-2Dmosques&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=YMZKXMABMtCP1uqv_NJlc3MSaNPJ9n4l7dH-xG7RvrU&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__spectrumlocalnews.com_nc_coastal_news_2025_07_28_vandalism-2Dtexas-2Dcalifornia-2Dmosques%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DYMZKXMABMtCP1uqv_NJlc3MSaNPJ9n4l7dH-xG7RvrU%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw2ntsuM_f3bmapl8O0mkcwe">here</a>, <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.thedp.com_article_2024_01_penn-2Dmosque-2Dvandalized-2Dwest-2Dphiladelphia&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=HHZN6isFLjAjyE8bnE_N0XIr5-XawuZJiyLkK1DwizU&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.thedp.com_article_2024_01_penn-2Dmosque-2Dvandalized-2Dwest-2Dphiladelphia%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DHHZN6isFLjAjyE8bnE_N0XIr5-XawuZJiyLkK1DwizU%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw34QR7yYT-n-N4u0vichNUo">here</a>, and <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.israelnationalnews.com_news_153934&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=tdjrVe4w1kUBAkoiTQEUie_Lx7Norn8UzpO0GfMwaCY&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.israelnationalnews.com_news_153934%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DtdjrVe4w1kUBAkoiTQEUie_Lx7Norn8UzpO0GfMwaCY%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3TpLysCZObyNsNkCPReOXH">here</a>) were broadly denounced. Indeed, criticism of the Star of David was censored by the DSA-LA chat administrators.
One might suppose that this recent discord is just an anomaly. But DSA-LA has a history of missteps when it comes to zionism. The most striking examples were the chapter’s multiple endorsements of Los Angeles City Council member <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__medium.com_-40PalestineSWG_socialists-2Ddont-2Denable-2Dzionism-2De89f7d79b85b&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=9iYVBm81KUo2dWK5G_Whvk23DHWSwhFKp1CjzmVVcOQ&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__medium.com_-40PalestineSWG_socialists-2Ddont-2Denable-2Dzionism-2De89f7d79b85b%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3D9iYVBm81KUo2dWK5G_Whvk23DHWSwhFKp1CjzmVVcOQ%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3ByAOXtNY-d5rh1HrdJ9BF">Nithya Raman</a>. Following DSA-LA’s first endorsement of Raman in 2019, she also sought the endorsement of “Democrats for Israel Los Angeles” (DFI). DFI withheld its endorsement for her first four-year term in 2020, but endorsed her second successful electoral run in 2024, as did DSA-LA again. DFI’s change of heart may have come about as a result of Raman’s services to zionism. She voted to <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__cityclerk.lacity.org_onlinedocs_2022_22-2D1241-5Freso-5F10-2D19-2D22.pdf&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=yVW8jucHDDe4CvLNR5LbhCLTdOwgXouqWMGhbzUlHdc&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__cityclerk.lacity.org_onlinedocs_2022_22-2D1241-5Freso-5F10-2D19-2D22.pdf%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DyVW8jucHDDe4CvLNR5LbhCLTdOwgXouqWMGhbzUlHdc%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3CrZUKiIZB6vollkXnExQz">adopt</a> the <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.hrw.org_news_2023_04_04_human-2Drights-2Dand-2Dother-2Dcivil-2Dsociety-2Dgroups-2Durge-2Dunited-2Dnations-2Drespect-2Dhuman&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=7WPDwoyLG4yPojPNP-Dqp7Mf5ngXU2w7CNsicRvM0I8&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__www.hrw.org_news_2023_04_04_human-2Drights-2Dand-2Dother-2Dcivil-2Dsociety-2Dgroups-2Durge-2Dunited-2Dnations-2Drespect-2Dhuman%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3D7WPDwoyLG4yPojPNP-Dqp7Mf5ngXU2w7CNsicRvM0I8%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw1Vdr8McWFqU4WNmqaHC8k6">IHRA definition</a> of antisemitism, which conflates antisemitism with anti-zionism, despite public <a href="https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0yCiB3Go5nC6QckabvGU8LH9zoXBp6YRKrYeNoMRmvj2FUZ9bYPD9ZCUWLe9ThVucl&id=555368774595271">opposition</a> from the L.A. Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Raman also <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__medium.com_-40PalestineSWG_socialists-2Ddont-2Denable-2Dzionism-2De89f7d79b85b&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=9iYVBm81KUo2dWK5G_Whvk23DHWSwhFKp1CjzmVVcOQ&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__medium.com_-40PalestineSWG_socialists-2Ddont-2Denable-2Dzionism-2De89f7d79b85b%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3D9iYVBm81KUo2dWK5G_Whvk23DHWSwhFKp1CjzmVVcOQ%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3ByAOXtNY-d5rh1HrdJ9BF">co-authored a resolution</a> to support an anti-Palestinian school district resolution, which was later used to help defeat a pro-BDS teachers union policy resolution.
DSA-LA was aware of Nithya Raman’s DFI endorsement as well as her pro-zionist activities, but the chapter voted to reconfirm its second endorsement anyway, albeit with a perfunctory <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__dsa-2Dla.org_letter-2Dof-2Dcensure-2Dnithya-2Draman_&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=fIWEIDJF3Xf1dVrONvZgAdbQX3f8BE4XMEMN9s2cEQA&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__dsa-2Dla.org_letter-2Dof-2Dcensure-2Dnithya-2Draman_%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DfIWEIDJF3Xf1dVrONvZgAdbQX3f8BE4XMEMN9s2cEQA%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3E_68SfSW0ej4rBBxT6mqv">letter of censure</a>. Remarkably, in her 2023 DSA-LA “Incumbent Candidate Questionnaire”, Nithya Raman reaffirmed her support for the racist IHRA definition of antisemitism. She declined a pledge to reject funds from organizations that profit off of Palestinian occupation and refused to promise to decline “education trips” to Israel sponsored by pro-Zionist organizations. During an interview with DSA-LA members she even verbally declined to identify herself as a socialist. Yet, the chapter endorsed her without questioning those responses.
Another endorsed candidate for local office gave mostly satisfactory answers on a similar DSA-LA questionnaire, but also wrote, “The Likkud Government of Israel and Hamas are both responsible for war crimes; Likkud for its asymmetrical warfare, domicide, and ethnic cleansing, and Hamas for its sickening willingness to use its own people as pawns in a greater geopolitical game,” thus creating a false symmetry and blaming Palestinians in part for their own genocide. This response should have been probed prior to endorsement but was not.
As the genocide progressed in 2023 and 2024, DSA-LA appropriately undertook actions in support of a ceasefire, but some were compromised. In a DSA-LA organized demonstration at a local congressional office, DSA-LA leaders led with the chant, “from the river to the sea,…”, except that the usual rejoinder, “Palestine will be free” was replaced by “everyone will be free.” This was presumably done to appease zionists who complained that the standard chant is “antisemitic.”
To its credit, DSA-LA formed a Palestine Solidarity Working Group in December 2023, which continues its activism to the present day. But soon after its formation, it was proposed that the working group request a meeting with the chapter’s Electoral Politics Committee for the purpose of discussing ways in which that committee could better flag and respond to pro-zionist statements by candidates for office seeking DSA-LA endorsement. However, this proposal was rejected. While DSA-LA has broadly supported Palestinian human rights, publicly called for a ceasefire and an end to the genocide, it has been unwilling to engage in its own “zionist house cleaning.”
When the DSA was founded in 1982, its leader, Michael Harrington, supported Israel, and described zionism as a “national liberation movement.” The national organization has since progressed well beyond its beginnings. At the national level, DSA has taken important steps to disengage from its zionist foundations, but the degree to which the policies identified in its new resolution, “<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__docs.google.com_document_d_1uVRuqCw1UKgNmurmCWvswerswEHHmkJ4UyXo8zvCVaM_edit&d=DwMFaQ&c=Oo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U&r=o1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w&m=KasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq&s=KnKMgGDtCzwr9AGKMQJys3vhymSKECQ-2NuEUngzStk&e=" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u%3Dhttps-3A__docs.google.com_document_d_1uVRuqCw1UKgNmurmCWvswerswEHHmkJ4UyXo8zvCVaM_edit%26d%3DDwMFaQ%26c%3DOo8bPJf7k7r_cPTz1JF7vEiFxvFRfQtp-j14fFwh71U%26r%3Do1Fmq5iPNOm916m1hd6KTGbCbTY_SS3TX_LiAfvuQ-w%26m%3DKasoCfRJpoklP6kBfqSbw38Xzoz-Om-Ri-iIelZndeHaytLIr0Ict8EluBPuPgkq%26s%3DKnKMgGDtCzwr9AGKMQJys3vhymSKECQ-2NuEUngzStk%26e%3D&source=gmail&ust=1757902863931000&usg=AOvVaw3z1UIBLRKKotUNLr9S5nmw">For a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA</a>” will filter down to the chapter level remains an open question.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/a-dsa-chapter-struggles-with-zionism/">A DSA Chapter Struggles With Zionism</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>It’s a Bitch</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/its-a-bitch/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[E.R. Bills]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 14:40:30 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161563</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As I walked into a Fort Worth Post office the other day, I passed a young redneck wearing a patently ignorant t-shirt. Not just ordinarily stupid, run-of-the-mill cretinous or incredibly ignorant. But extraordinarily ignorant—if not full-blown delusional. The wearer was the usual type. Hair high and tight underneath a straw cowboy hat, a forearm tattoo […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/its-a-bitch/">It’s a Bitch</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ER-Bills.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://dissidentvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/ER-Bills.jpg" alt="" width="183" height="276" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-143874" /></a>As I walked into a Fort Worth Post office the other day, I passed a young redneck wearing a patently ignorant t-shirt. Not just ordinarily stupid, run-of-the-mill cretinous or incredibly ignorant. But extraordinarily ignorant—if not full-blown delusional.
The wearer was the usual type. Hair high and tight underneath a straw cowboy hat, a forearm tattoo or three, with at least one rendering of his favorite phallic stand-in … daring a nonexistent mob to “Come and Take It.” He was flaunting his pseudo-badassery for all who were susceptible (or as ill-informed as he).
I rolled my eyes as we passed, but I didn’t look back. It was pointless for me to respond, even nonverbally. But it was too much, really. Too much of too much on a tortuous loop.
The teen ranger’s t-shirt read: “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: YOU MEAN TEXAS AND ITS 49 BITCHES”
Yeah.
Yeah, I thought. Sexist, asinine and perversely grandiose.
I mean, I’m a native Texan and all, and proud to be so. Except when young troglodytes brandish apparel that flagrantly illustrates Lone Star idiocy. He might as well have been wearing an “I’m With Stupid” tee except, instead of the arrow pointing left or right, it pointed straight up, at the dip’s dip-stained chin.
To be fair, though, the teen ranger was probably educated in Texas, where—in the teen ranger’s vernacular—literacy rates are inferior to the citizens of 47 other bitches in America. But he did get the current number of states right, and that’s reassuring. Because the numeracy levels of the wayward denizens in 45 other bitches are superior to those of Texas.
Forty-five? Forty-seven? Why do those numbers ring a bell? Hmmm.
For the peanut gallery, numeracy is the capacity to understand, reason with, and apply basic numerical concepts. It’s essentially the numerical counterpart of literacy. As in, if you’re ranked 46th out of 50, you’re darn near illiterate in terms of math, which is why you may still consider the state of your birth swell. And why your clueless opinion of said birthplace is so groundlessly swollen.
A colloquial corollary to someone being one’s bitch is making someone one’s bitch. Are Texas conservatives watching too many prison dramas? Or is it an unconscious itch they’ve found a way to metaphorically scratch?
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to explain things to Jethro Q. Pudwhack, because he is fiercely unworldly, proudly ill-informed and comfortably illiterate in terms of culture, politics and ethics. Not to mention insensate in terms of his own sexism, chauvinism and—yes, again—perverse braggadocio.
Now, I, myself, grew up a redneck. We had a small pasture, a garden, a few dogs and spent a little time around cattle. But even I know that if you’re trotting near the rear of fifty head of cattle, you’re getting the last lick of feed, grass or hay, and you’re settling for backwash at the trough.
The real head-scratcher for me is, why are teen ranger and his ilk okay with backwash?
Where were his ma and pa when conservative knuckle-draggers rode into their town, and why didn’t they run them off before their little Jethro Q. Pudwhack was intellectually handicapped by their talking points?
Stupid may be as stupid does, but Joannie and Jethro Q. Pudwhack elected the current batch of scamps and they, in turn, made “stupid” the state bird. But what’s the point in Bocephus going around giving every state that’s not full of doofuses the bird?
Now, I know what you’re thinking.
Well, maybe not thinking, but vaguely wondering.
You’re wondering if I’m really from Texas, because, in that dim space between your ears, you suspect real Texans don’t run their heads about education or opine polysyllabic about the lack or sad state thereof. But you and yers are simply mistaken simps.
Not everyone in Texas drinks piss from a boot and breathes through their mouth. And a bunch of us are plumb tired of settling for backwash at a shrinking trough and teen rangers who don’t have a lick of sense.
You may not have realized our state is no longer great, and you may not be able to get your hat around the implications of our current morass: our legislature is full of dumbasses and the only thing really big around here these days is our clear and present acceleration backwards … or, in the words of teen rangers, moving backwards bigly.
It’s a bitch.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/its-a-bitch/">It’s a Bitch</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<item>
<title>After Five Decades, It Comes to This: The PNG-Australia Pukpuk Treaty</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/after-five-decades-it-comes-to-this-the-png-australia-pukpuk-treaty/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Binoy Kampmark]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:22:19 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Anthony Albanese]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Fiji]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Papua New Guinea]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sovereignty]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Don Rothwell]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Mike Pezzullo]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Richard Marles]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161576</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It’s clearer than ever: the Albanese government is continuing its efforts to shut out China in wooing and seducing island states across vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Bilateral security treaties are being pursued as a matter of urgency. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has, for instance, stated that he is open to closer defence ties […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/after-five-decades-it-comes-to-this-the-png-australia-pukpuk-treaty/">After Five Decades, It Comes to This: The PNG-Australia Pukpuk Treaty</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[It’s clearer than ever: the Albanese government is continuing its efforts to shut out China in wooing and seducing island states across vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Bilateral security treaties are being pursued as a matter of urgency. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has, for instance, <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-10/pacific-islands-forum-australia-fiji-security-treaty-talks/105757640">stated</a> that he is open to closer defence ties with Fiji, which “could range from increased interoperability, the sort of training that we are seeing with the Pacific Policing Initiative, being expanded to increased engagement between our defence forces”.
The template, however, would seem to be the Pukpuk Treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea (pukpuk being the pidgin word for “crocodile”). It was reported on September 15 that the PNG cabinet had, despite a few procedural hiccups, approved the pact, with a PNG cabinet submission <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-16/australia-and-png-defence-treaty-could-oblige-military-action/105776214">observing</a> that the treaty is intended “to prepare our militaries to be battle-ready and for a very bad day”. With exaggeration, the document also envisages a treaty with the bite of a crocodile in linking the militaries of the two countries.
While the contents of the treaty have yet to be published – the Albanese government is showing itself increasingly secretive – the Australian national broadcaster has seen a copy. There are also clues about what is expected. PNG Defence Minister Billy Joseph <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-14/australia-and-png-defence-treaty-to-integrate-military-forces/105770088">has said</a> that a provision much like Article 4 in NATO’s founding treaty, obliging member states to consult when any one feels a threat to their territorial integrity, political independence or security, is in the offing. The existing 1977 Status of Forces framework will be modernised to include a mutual defence obligation, a hefty expenditure on weapons and equipment for PNG while permitting unimpeded access of Australian Defence Forces to facilities in PNG. PNG nationals will also be able to be recruited into the ADF, as will Australians wishing to be recruited into the PNG Defence Forces.
Despite celebrating five decades of independence, PNG has decided to throw a good bit of it away by surrendering the complete autonomy of its armed forces to Australian influence and control. Such arrangements are always advertised as ostensible exercises of “interoperability”, consultation and equality, with various domestic processes needing to be observed. In truth, this gives Canberra greater say over what Port Moresby will do with its armed forces and, by implication, its foreign policy.
Such greater say also risks involving Australia in a range of security concerns. Don Rothwell, an international law authority based at the Australian National University, <a class="western" href="https://www.postcourier.com.pg/australia-to-modernise-png-military-under-hugely-significant-treaty/">sees</a> the prospect of Canberra being snagged in PNG-Indonesia border issues arising from West Papua, and dirtying itself with “an active independence movement in Bougainville, which raises issues of PNG’s ‘political independence or security’.”
With the attraction of a pathway to Australian citizenship and the prospect of equal rates of pay as earned by members of the ADF, there is a genuine chance that PNG will see its own forces depleted while swelling the ranks of the ADF. In terms of planning, this looks like a fantastic instance of self-harm and diminishment.
International relations commentary rarely does a good line in ironic reflection. A <a class="western" href="https://theconversation.com/with-new-png-defence-treaty-australia-is-delivering-on-its-rhetoric-about-trust-at-a-critical-time-265064">piece</a> in The Conversation by Ian Kemish does not disappoint, flecked with platitudes on “deep roots in shared history”, Australia being the “most trusted partner” to PNG, and sentimental guff about “partnership and equality”. Port Moresby had evidently felt that the relationship with Canberra was “unique – the only one that combines proximity, capability and an enduring sense of shared history.” Michael Shoebridge of the Strategic Analysis Australia think tank, <a class="western" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-14/australia-and-png-defence-treaty-to-integrate-military-forces/105770088">described</a> the pact as “a pretty big step”, with PNG saying “‘Yes we agree, you actually are our security partner of choice, and we mean it enough to put it into a treaty’.”
Australian self-interest, ever jittery about China’s regional influence, shines so brightly in these arrangements as to make such remarks feeble. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, often circuitous and waffly at press conferences, was <a class="western" href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/transcripts/2025-09-14/television-interview-abc-insiders">candid in admitting</a> that “PNG is obviously on our northern flank. It really matters that we have the very best relationship we have with PNG in a security sense. And I’m really excited about the fact that this agreement is going to give expression to that.”
The need to keep PNG close to Australia’s military interests is also of ongoing interest to such anti-China hawks as the sacked and disgraced former secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Mike Pezzullo. For some reason, press outlets think his predictable views matter. To The Australian Financial Review, he <a class="western" href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-set-to-sign-ambitious-defence-treaty-with-papua-new-guinea-20250912-p5mun9">explained</a> rather banally that “PNG would be in peril were it to be attacked by a foreign power.” He advised that Australia “for the first time in our bilateral relationship, commit to coming to PNG’s assistance in the event of it being attacked by a foreign power.” Any agreement that did not codify such an undertaking “would be, while useful, not reflective of our deep strategic interdependence.”
With each utterance on sovereignty from Canberra, officials in Port Moresby would do well to consider the implications of the pact. PNG may have existed as a nominally independent state for fifty years, but that independence is set to come to an end.The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/after-five-decades-it-comes-to-this-the-png-australia-pukpuk-treaty/">After Five Decades, It Comes to This: The PNG-Australia Pukpuk Treaty</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Five Actions that Definitively Disqualify Trump for his Coveted Nobel Peace Prize</title>
<link>https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/five-actions-that-definitively-disqualify-trump-for-his-coveted-nobel-peace-prize/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kim Petersen]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:10:53 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Ansar Allah (Houthis)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Genocide]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Israel (part of Mandate Palestine)]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Marco Rubio]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Ukraine]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Venezuela]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[War Crimes]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Yemen]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Abraham Accords]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Colonel Douglas Macgregor]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Nobel Peace Prize]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[nuclear program]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Operation Rough Rider]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[proxy war]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sean Hannity]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Yván Gil]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://dissidentvoice.org/?p=161552</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I am especially proud to be the first President in decades who has started no new wars. — Donald Trump, Farewell Address, 20 January 2021 I am the Peace President and only I will prevent WW3! — Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, 6 September 2024 I think I’m going to get a Nobel Prize for […]
The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/five-actions-that-definitively-disqualify-trump-for-his-coveted-nobel-peace-prize/">Five Actions that Definitively Disqualify Trump for his Coveted Nobel Peace Prize</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote>I am especially proud to be the first President in decades who has started no new wars. 
— Donald Trump, <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/proud-to-be-the-first-president-in-decades-with-no-new-wars-donald-trump-2355040">Farewell Address</a>, 20 January 2021</blockquote>
<blockquote>I am the Peace President and only I will prevent WW3! 
— Donald J. Trump, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/1fb0whw/i_am_the_peace_president_and_only_i_will_prevent/#lightbox">Truth Social</a>, 6 September 2024</blockquote>
<blockquote>I think I’m going to get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t. 
— Donald Trump, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-is-worthy-of-a-nobel-prize-for-a-lot-of-things--but-isnt-treated-fairly/2019/09/23/e715baa2-de2c-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html">Washington Post</a>, 23 September 2019</blockquote>
Seemingly crushing Trump’s aspirations, Cross World News has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sf1S33HIR4&t=322s">headlined</a>: “Donald Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize Push Rejected.”
It has long been obvious that the self-described “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/14/the-kingmaker-trump-relishes-his-diplomacy-as-he-jockeys-for-nobel-prize-00509869">president of peace</a>” Donald Trump has been immodestly pining and campaigning for a Nobel Peace Prize. Trump figures if Barack Obama — <a href="https://countercurrents.org/petersen101009.htm">audaciously</a> though — was awarded the peace prize, then he should be as well. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize.” <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/why-donald-trump-believes-he-deserves-the-nobel-peace-prize-and-ended-seven-wars-13415259">Trump complained</a>, “With me, I probably will never get it.”
Nonetheless, Trump believes that he has the bona fides to win a <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2010/10/what-purpose-does-the-nobel-prize-serve/">vaunted and tainted Nobel Peace Prize</a>. Trump prides himself on his having held negotiations with the DPRK and on his role in pushing for the Abraham Accords in the Middle East. In more recent times, he has taken credit for <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/why-donald-trump-believes-he-deserves-the-nobel-peace-prize-and-ended-seven-wars-13415259">having ended seven wars</a>. Even if all this were indisputably true, he still should not be in contention for a peace prize.
Five solid reasons that invalidate peace credentials
To start, a nomination from Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu — indicted for alleged responsibility “for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024” as cited by the <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/netanyahu">UN-backed International Criminal Court</a> (ICC) — should raise some eyebrows.
Even so, Berg Harpviken, who guides the Nobel Peace Prize committee said, “To be nominated is not necessarily a great achievement. The great achievement is to become a laureate.” Trump is just one of 338 individuals and organizations nominated this year.
1) — More egregious for Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize aspirations are his administration’s actions that are strongly supportive of the Israeli government’s genocidal actions in Palestine.
2) — There is the case of the ongoing US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. This was admitted by secretary of state Marco Rubio, in an interview with Sean Hannity, <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-sean-hannity-of-fox-news?cmplz-force-reload=1757889606576">saying</a>, “And frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine…” US involvement is cited as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJKrj1Hn77c">prolonging the fighting</a> that has seen, according to retired US colonel Douglas Macgregor, over 1.7 million Ukrainian soldiers killed or missing in action, including over a hundred thousand Russians.
3) — In March 2025, the United States launched Operation Rough Rider, a large campaign of air and naval strikes against Ansar Allah targets in war-ravaged Yemen.
4) — On 22 June 2025, the US air force and navy bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran, this despite Iran having not attacked or threatened the US and being in negotiations at that time with the US over Iran’s nuclear program.
5) — On 3 September 2025, the US Trump attacked a small Venezuelan boat, allegedly carrying drugs bound for the US, killing all eleven people onboard. The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdjzw3gplv7o">BBC cites experts calling the attack illegal</a>:
<blockquote>[Prof Michael Becker:] “Not only does the strike appear to have violated the prohibition on the use of force, it also runs afoul of the right to life under international human rights law.”
Prof [Luke] Moffett said that the use of force in this case could amount to an “extrajudicial arbitrary killing” and “a fundamental violation of human rights”.</blockquote>
The US narrative has since <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtM3TGWzXsc&t=378s">been heavily called into question</a>.
Subsequently, on 13 September 2025, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/venezuela-says-us-marines-raided-a-fishermens-boat-in-the-caribbean-as-tensions-rise/">according to the Venezuelan foreign minister Yvan Gil</a>, the US navy further ratcheted up tensions by raiding a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters.
Conclusion
Actively abetting a genocide, promoting a proxy war, launching attacks on nuclear facilities, bombing war-ravaged Yemen, and illegally bombing and raiding small boats in open water on unproven claims, separately, and definitively in totality, must rule out any consideration for a peace prize. The post <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org/2025/09/five-actions-that-definitively-disqualify-trump-for-his-coveted-nobel-peace-prize/">Five Actions that Definitively Disqualify Trump for his Coveted Nobel Peace Prize</a> first appeared on <a href="https://dissidentvoice.org">Dissident Voice</a>.]]></content:encoded>
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